Chorea, transverse myelitis, neuropathy and a distinctive MRI: paraneoplastic manifestations of probable small cell lung cancer.

Paraneoplastic chorea occurs most commonly in association with small cell lung cancer, often in combination with other paraneoplastic phenomena and sometimes with distinctive basal ganglia T2-weighted MRI hyperintensities. A case of acute-onset chorea is presented in which this phenomenon, combined with transverse myelitis, neuropathy and the described characteristic MRI changes prompted positron emission tomography scanning, in which evidence of probable small cell cancer was uncovered.