Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0004134 (ataxia)
 15,886 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We describe two patients who developed paraneoplastic neurological syndromes and have reviewed the literature. One patient with Hodgkin's disease developed brachial neuritis. The other with a non Hodgkin's lymphoma of thyroid suffered from ataxia owing to cerebellar degeneration. Both neurological syndromes developed following marked nodal shrinkage following chemotherapy. Although both patients are in complete remission there has been no recovery of the neurological deficit. The patient with brachial neuritis developed L'hermitte's sign after a modest dose radiation (35Gy in 20 fractions) to the cervical cord and a vincristine sensory neuropathy. Vincristine may also have increased the degree of ataxia in the second patient. We suggest that potentially neurotoxic treatment should be given with extra care to patients with paraneoplastic neurological disorders.
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PMID:Paraneoplastic neurological syndromes associated with lymphomas. 787 6

Vincristine is an effective chemotherapeutic agent for a variety of human neoplasms, but has dose-limiting neurotoxicity. Since laboratory rodents have proven to be refractive in such neurotoxicological studies, we conducted a neuropathological and behavioral assessment in rabbits treated with vincristine at doses known to be both chemotherapeutically effective and neurotoxic in humans. Rabbits (Kbl: NZW) were given vincristine intravenously at doses of 0 (saline), 200, 250 or 300 microg/kg once a week for 6 weeks, 500 microg/kg once a week for 3 weeks, or a single 500 microg/kg administration. Detailed periodic neurologic examination revealed ataxia in a few animals. Pathologically, axonal injury progressing to fiber degeneration was observed in sensory tracts such as the posterior spinocerebellar tract and posterior funiculus, and in peripheral nerves after treatment with vincristine. These alterations were observed even after a single dose of 500 microg/kg. In the group given weekly doses of 500 microg/kg, neuronal chromatolysis was also found in the spinal cord. These results suggest the rabbit is responsive to vincristine neurotoxicity producing a predominantly sensory neuropathy and confirming earlier studies.
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PMID:The usefulness of rabbits as an animal model for the neuropathological assessment of neurotoxicity following the administration of vincristine. 1102 59