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Long-term
cognitive and MRI findings in a patient with paraneoplastic limbic encephalitis
T. Benke, M. Wagner,
A.K. Pallua, A. Muigg and G. Stockhammer
Clinic of Neurology (T.B.,
A.M., G.S.), Institute for Computed Tomography (M.W, A.K.P.), University of
Innsbruck, Austria
This case study describes
the long-term course of behavioral alterations and MRI findings in a patient
with a combined limbic and
cerebellar paraneoplastic syndrome, which was associated with a squamous lung
carcinoma.
Clinical equivalents were cerebellar
ataxia, as well as severe anterograde memory loss, frontal executive dysfunction
and behavioral alterations.
MRI revealed inflammatory changes followed by progressive atrophy affecting the cerebellum
and both temporal lobes.
Tumor surgery yielded only a partial and transient recovery of neurological symptoms,
and paraneoplastic atrophy continued to progress despite radical excision of the
carcinoma.
This case of paraneoplastic
encephalitis suggests that the related atrophy may present as a chronic,
progressive, multifocal encephalopathy
and that the associated cognitive impairments may include several cognitive
domains.
Key words: cognitive
impairment, limbic encephalitis, MRI, paraneoplastic syndrome
© 2004 Kluwer Academic
Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.
Source: http://journals.kluweronline.com/article.asp?PIPS=5145798
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