Paraneoplastic Syndromes

Robert B. Darnell MD, PhD · Jerome B. Posner MD, FAAN

Apr 2011 · Oxford University Press

About this ebook

Paraneoplastic syndromes, defined in this book as "disorders caused by cancer, but not a direct result of cancer invasion of the affected organ or tissue", once believed to be rare and esoteric neurologic disorders have assumed increasing importance as an explanation of neurologic and other symptoms in patients suffered from occult or controllable cancers. This book attempts a comprehensive review of paraneoplastic syndromes from considering both clinical and pathophysiologic aspects. The book is divided into 4 sections: The first is an overview, classifying the disorders, describing a clinical approach to the diagnosis and treatment of paraneoplastic syndromes in general and identifying their pathogenesis. The section discusses the clinical findings and treatment of individual paraneoplastic syndromes with chapters dedicated to each of the neurologic syndromes and a chapter discussing nonneurologic syndromes such as endocrine, cutaneous, and rheumatologic paraneoplastic disorders. The third section discusses autoantibodies that characterize individual paraneoplastic syndromes. The final section discusses the paraneoplastic syndromes associated with individual cancers.

About the author

Dr. Darnell studied neurology as Chief Resident with Dr. Fred Plum at The New York Hospital, Cornell, and then, beginning in 1990 and continuing through the present time, with Dr. Jerome Posner at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Darnell is currently the Heilbrunn Cancer Professor and Senior Physician at The Rockefeller University and an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and is an Affiliate Attending Neurologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He is a past recipient of the Derek Denny-Brown Young Neurological Scholar Award, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Clinical Scientist Award in Translational Research, and a member of the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Posner did a Neurology residency at the University of Washington under Dr. Fred Plum. Before coming to Memorial Sloan-Kettering cancer Center in 1967, Dr. Posner was attending neurologist at King County Hospital in Seattle Washington and at The New York Hospital, Cornell. Dr. Posner currently holds the George C. Cotzias of Neuro-Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering cancer Center and was recently in only clinical research professor ship from the American Cancer Society. He is an attending neurologist at Memorial Hospital and a Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience Cornell Medical College. He was the first chair of the department of neurology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering cancer Center. He is a member of the Institute of medicine.