Complex neuromuscular disorder in a patient with chronic myeloid leukaemia

• Published in: Postgraduate medical journal Vol. 69; no. 810; pp. 312 - 314
• Main Authors: Bergin, P. S., Gale, A. N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London The Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine 01-04-1993; BMJ; Oxford University Press; BMJ Group
• Subjects: Adult; Allopurinol - administration & dosage; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Hematologic and hematopoietic diseases; Humans; Hydroxyurea - administration & dosage; Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive - complications; Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive - drug therapy; Leukemias. Malignant lymphomas. Malignant reticulosis. Myelofibrosis; Male; Medical sciences; Myositis - etiology; Neuromuscular Diseases - etiology; Ophthalmoplegia - etiology; Case study; Human; Myeloproliferative syndrome; Nervous system diseases; Chronic; Chronic myelocytic leukemia; Complication; Malignant hemopathy
• ISSN: 0032-5473; 1469-0756
• DOI: 10.1136/pgmj.69.810.312

We report a 44 year old man who developed external ophthalmoplegia and predominantly respiratory, truncal and bulbar weakness with brisk reflexes, histological evidence of an inflammatory myopathy and a high titre of acetylcholine receptor antibodies, one month after starting hydroxyurea and allopurinol for chronic myeloid leukaemia. The temporal relationship suggests a possible association between this patient's unusual neuromuscular disorder and either the chronic myeloid leukaemia or its treatment.