Distant Effects of Neoplasm on the Nervous System

Abstract

Direct or remote effects on the nervous system are sometimes the first evidence of malignancy. A patient with lung cancer, for example, may have encephalomyelitis or a syndrome resembling myasthenia gravis, apparently as a direct effect. Remote effects include viral or other infections secondary to impairment of immune mechanisms, endocrinopathies in patients with tumors that secrete insulin or ACTH, and ischemic infarction or blindness caused by vascular disorders complicating tumors.