Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome in patients with small cell lung cancer: Report of five cases

Abstract

To further evaluate the clinical characteristics of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) with Lambert-Eaton syndrome. We reviewed the patient database of our hospital from 2001 to 2013 to evaluate and analyze the patients of SCLC with Lambert-Eaton syndrome. The clinical characteristics and prognosis of the patients were analyzed in this retrospective study. From reviewing our hospital database, we included 5 SCLC patients with Lambert-Eaton syndrome from 202 SCLC subjects with an incidence rate of 2.5%. The median age of the 5 patients was 52 (41-71) with 4 male and 1 female. The myasthenia symptom can be detected in 2-20 months before the pathology confirmation for small cell lung carcinoma. The general electromyography characteristics of Lambert-Eaton syndrome was reduction in action potential amplitude after repetitive peripheral never stimulation at low frequency and increased amplitude at high frequency. Lambert-Eaton syndrome was sometimes found in patients with SCLC which was useful for diagnosis of non-small cell lung carcinoma in a relatively early stage.