Hirst Claire L, Willis Mark, Hussain Hussain, Powell Rob
Department of Neurology, Morriston Hospital, Swansea, UK.
Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, UK.
BMJ Case Rep. 2015 Nov 18;2015:bcr2015209556. doi: 10.1136/bcr-2015-209556.
Neurological involvement at onset in acute myeloid leucaemia (AML) is rare, with only a few isolated case reports. We present the case of a 46-year-old man with rapidly progressive polyradiculoneuropathy as the presenting feature of AML. The proposed mechanism for this is postulated to be direct intraneural infiltration, although a paraneoplastic, autoimmune-related phenomenon could be possible. Despite chemotherapeutic intervention, the patient died 1 month after initial presentation. Although rare, neurological manifestations of AML do occur and it is important to include haematological malignancies in the differential diagnosis in patients presenting with neurological symptoms.