Autoantibody screening in subacute cerebellar ataxia.

In a retrospective study of 280 sera from patients presenting with cerebellar signs, seven of whom had proved positive for the typical paraneoplastic serum antibodies that were requested by the clinicians, raised concentrations of antibodies to voltage-gated calcium channels or to glutamic acid decarboxylase were detected in a further seven sera. Systematic screening for these and other antibodies in future cases should help in the diagnosis and management of the patients.