Trismus caused by paraneoplastic brainstem encephalitis.

Trismus caused by paraneoplastic brainstem encephalitis.
Pract Neurol. 2018 Feb 13;:
Authors: Malek N, Damian M
Abstract
We discuss the assessment and differential diagnoses of a middle-aged man who presented with trismus, double vision and behavioural problems. MRI scan of the brain was initially normal, but a month later showed high signal in the hippocampal region on fluid attenuated inversion recovery sequence (FLAIR) imaging. We suspected a paraneoplastic brainstem encephalitis because of his smoking history, rapidly progressive symptoms and abnormal brainstem signs. A positron emission tomography-CT scan identified abnormal subcarinal nodes, shown on biopsy to be metastatic small cell lung cancer. He is currently undergoing treatment with chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
PMID: 29440480 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Practical Neurology - February 13, 2018 Category: Neurology Authors: Malek N, Damian M Tags: Pract Neurol Source Type: research