Neuro-ophthalmological paraneoplastic syndromes: a review

Abstract

Lesions involving the visual system due to the remote effect of cancer are uncommon. Their clinical manifestations are protean. The main symptoms are visual loss, caused by retinopathy or optic neuritis, and abnormal eye movements. Cancer-related retinopathy (CAR) has been primarily described in patients with small-cell lung carcinoma, and it is distinct from melanoma associated retinopathy (MAR), and the retinopathy caused by bilateral diffuse uveal melanocytic proliferation (BDUMP) observed in patients with various neoplasias. The main underlying tumours in patients with paraneoplastic optic neuritis are lung and breast carcinomas. Eye movement disorders consist of opsoclonus, associated with neuroblastoma in infants and children and various tumours in adults, and ophtalmoplegia caused by paraneoplastic myasthenia gravis or paraneoplastic brainstem encephalitis. The differential diagnosis of the neuro-ophthalmological paraneoplastic syndromes includes primarily metastatic and treatment-related lesions. In some patients the paraneoplastic nature of the ophthalmological disorder my by proven by specific serum antibodies. These antibodies are also markers of the underlying and often non-diagnosed cancer, but their pathogenic role remains unproven.