A rare case of paraneoplastic Guillain-Barré syndrome in a patient with endometrial cancer

Abstract

Introduction: Guillain-Barré syndrome is an acute, inflammatory polyradiculoneuropathy of autoimmune aetiology. It is a rare disease seen in 1 in 100,000 person-years. Up to 20% of those affected develop severe disability; mortality in Guillain-Barré syndrome is 5%. Guillain-Barré, associated with many malignancies as a paraneoplastic phenomenon, has been reported – especially in haematological malignancies such as lymphoma and leukaemia. Solid tumours associated with paraneoplastic Guillain-Barré syndrome are breast and lung cancers. The association between paraneoplastic Guillain-Barré syndrome and gynaecological malignancies are rare, and only a handful of cases have been previously reported in gynaecological cancers. Case description: We discuss a 65-year-old Sri Lankan female patient diagnosed with metastatic endometrial carcinoma who presented with paraneoplastic Guillain-Barré syndrome. The patient was treated appropriately and eventually recovered from her condition. Conclusion: Paraneoplastic Guillain-Barré syndrome is a rare phenomenon that clinicians can easily miss, and it has rarely been described in gynaecological cancers. Our patient was diagnosed with this rare phenomenon. The timely recognition and prompt treatment of this potentially life-threatening condition with multiple complications is essential in managing patients with malignancies and neuropathy. Further studies on paraneoplastic Guillain-Barré syndrome are needed as cases may be underreported.

Keywords

• guillain-barré syndrome
• paraneoplastic
• endometrial carcinoma