Luo M, Lu XX, Meng DY, Hu J. Small cell lung cancer with peripheral neuropathy as the first symptom: Two case reports. World J Clin Cases 2025; 13(9): 99421 [DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i9.99421]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Dan-Yang Meng, MD, Department of Neurology, Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, No. 1882 Zhonghuan South Road, Nanhu District, Jiaxing 314000, Zhejiang Province, China. danyang_meng@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Neurosciences
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. Mar 26, 2025; 13(9): 99421 Published online Mar 26, 2025. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i9.99421
Small cell lung cancer with peripheral neuropathy as the first symptom: Two case reports
Man Luo, Xiao-Xi Lu, Dan-Yang Meng, Jin Hu
Man Luo, Dan-Yang Meng, Jin Hu, Department of Neurology, Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, Jiaxing 314000, Zhejiang Province, China
Xiao-Xi Lu, Department of Information Technology, Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, Jiaxing 314000, Zhejiang Province, China
Co-corresponding authors: Dan-Yang Meng and Jin Hu.
Author contributions: Meng DY and Lu XX prepared the material; Luo M and Hu J wrote the first draft; Meng DY and Hu J guided the study, reviewed the data and draft, they contributed equally as co-corresponding authors; and all authors contributed to the study conception and design, reviewed and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by Science and Technology Plan Project of Jiaxing, No. 2021AD30044; Supporting Discipline of Neurology in Jiaxing, No. 2023-ZC-006; and Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, No. 2020-QMX-16.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Dan-Yang Meng, MD, Department of Neurology, Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, No. 1882 Zhonghuan South Road, Nanhu District, Jiaxing 314000, Zhejiang Province, China. danyang_meng@163.com
Received: July 22, 2024 Revised: October 15, 2024 Accepted: November 26, 2024 Published online: March 26, 2025 Processing time: 142 Days and 23.6 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is the most malignant type of lung cancer. Even in the latent period and early stage of the tumor, SCLC is prone to produce distant metastases with complex and diverse clinical manifestations. SCLC is most closely related to paraneoplastic syndrome, and some cases present as paraneoplastic peripheral neuropathy (PPN). PPN in SCLC appears early, lacks specificity, and often occurs before diagnosis of the primary tumor. It is easy to be misdiagnosed as a primary disease of the nervous system, leading to missed diagnosis and delayed diagnosis and treatment.
CASE SUMMARY
This paper reports two cases of SCLC with limb weakness as the first symptom. The first symptoms of one patient were rash, limb weakness, and abnormal electromyography. The patient was repeatedly referred to the hospital for limb weakness and rash for > 1 year, during which time, treatment with hormones and immunosuppressants did not lead to significant improvement, and the condition gradually aggravated. The patient was later diagnosed with SCLC, and the dyskinesia did not worsen as the dermatomyositis improved after antineoplastic and hormone therapy. The second case presented with limb numbness and weakness as the first symptom, but the patient did not pay attention to it. Later, the patient was diagnosed with SCLC after facial edema caused by tumor thrombus invading the vein. However, he was diagnosed with extensive SCLC and died 1 year after diagnosis.
CONCLUSION
The two cases had PPN and abnormal electromyography, highlighting its correlation with early clinical indicators of SCLC.
Core Tip: Paraneoplastic peripheral neuropathy is more common in patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC), but the exact role of peripheral nerve symptoms and electromyography (EMG) in SCLC is still the subject of debate and research. At present, there are few reports of SCLC with peripheral nerve injury as the first symptom and EMG results. This article reports two cases of SCLC with limb numbness and weakness as the initial symptoms, highlighting the potential role of paraneoplastic peripheral nerve status and EMG in SCLC screening and the possible clinical correlation between them.
