Sensory demyelinating polyneuropathology as a manifestation of paraneoplastic encephalomyelitis associated to adenocarcinoma of the prostate

Different neurological disorders affecting different levels of the nervous system, both central and peripheral, are included among the paraneoplastic symptomologies of cancers, although their incidence is not well defined and varies according to the type of tumour. We report the case of a 73 year old male patient who was admitted with a suspected polyneuropathy that had been developing for one month. The diagnosis was confirmed by electromyography. The only probable aetiology found in the course of a specific exploration was an adenocarcinoma of the prostate, with a widespread distribution throughout the central ganglionic chains and bone metastases, which were observed by computerised tomography of the abdomino pelvic region and bone gammography, and had not previously been diagnosed. We reviewed the literature on the relation between neurological paraneoplastic syndromes and neoplasias that are not of a pulmonary origin and we found a low rate of association between the two processes. The relation between adenocarcinoma of the prostate and neurological paraneoplastic processes receives very little attention. These syndromes vary greatly in their neurological expression, and there is a link with different antibodies that could explain an etiopathogenic mechanism of an immunitary nature. No effective treatment exists in spite of its usually being aggressive and varied. The disease often progresses quickly and leads to death after a few months.