Miller-Fisher syndrome associated with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Abstract

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a frequent hematological malignancy, with meningeal or peripheral nerve infiltrations being the most commonly encountered neurological complications. In this report, we describe a CLL patient with Miller-Fisher syndrome (MFS) who responded to immune modulation with plasmapheresis. A 47-year-old man diagnosed as B-cell CLL admitted with neutropenic fever. He complained of diplopia and numbness of both arms. Neurological examination revealed a bilateral external ophthalmoplegia, dysphagia, dysarthria, mild shoulder girdle muscle weakness and gait ataxia, accompanied by absent tendon reflexes. Nerve conduction studies were indicative of a predominantly axonal sensori-motor peripheral neuropathy. This association of CLL with MFS had not been previously reported in the literature.