[A nationwide survey on paraneoplastic neurological syndromes. Project group on paraneoplastic neurological syndromes, Neuroimmunological Disease Research Committee, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Japan].

A nationwide survey on paraneoplastic neurological syndrome was carried out using enquiry sheets for neurologists in hospitals to examine the approximate number of patients, clinical features, characteristic anti-neuronal antibodies, accompanying malignancy and current therapies of these syndromes. In the present survey, 159 case records of this syndrome were accumulated. The major clinical variations were as follows: sensory neuropathy (54 cases; 34%), Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome (45 cases; 28%) including 5 cases complicated with subacute cerebellar degeneration (PCD), PCD (40 cases; 25%) and limbic encephalitis (8 cases; 5%). Neurological symptoms preceded diagnosis of malignancy in over 83% of the total cases of these four major clinical variations in which tumors were verified. The detection of anti-neuronal antibodies, which are characteristic of some clinical types of this syndrome, is very important for early diagnosis and treatment for the neurological symptoms and underlying malignancy.