Progressive sensory neuropathy in patients without carcinoma: A disorder with distinctive clinical and electrophysiological findings

Abstract

Seven patients with severe progressive impairment of kinesthetic sense, mild dysfunction of cutaneous sense, and sparing of motor function were examined during a 3‐year period. The clinical and electrophysiological findings are described in detail. None of these seven has had evidence of cancer despite a thorough investigation and a 3‐ to 16‐year (average, 7 years) period of symptoms. These patients' symptoms were indistinguishable from those of patients with sensory neuropathy and coexistent carcinoma, suggesting that progressive sensory neuropathy is not invariably associated with carcinoma.