Carcinomatous neuromyopathy. The non-metastatic effects of cancer on the nervous system.

Cancer can produce a variety of effects on the nervous system either by direct compression or invasion, or remotely by some as yet unknown metabolic, toxic, viral or immunologic effect on the nervous system. The neurologic effects associated with cancer that does not directly involve neural tissue have distinctive features that can give the first clue to a previously undiagnosed neoplasm. Physicians who see patients with neurologic illness should be aware that there may be an underlying malignant lesion giving rise to the neurologic syndrome; and conversely they should be on the alert for neurologic complications in patients with known cancer even though the lesion does not directly press upon or invade nerve tissue.