Paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration associated with squamous cell carcinoma of the lung.

We report a 78-year-old man who presented with rapidly progressive cerebellar ataxia, dysarthria and vertigo. MRI of the brain showed no evidence of infiltrative pathology in the posterior fossa. Cerebrospinal fluid analysis revealed an elevated protein and pleocytosis. He was subsequently diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the lung on bronchoscopy. Paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration (PCD) was diagnosed. To our knowledge, there are only two previously reported patients with PCD associated with squamous cell carcinoma of the lung.