A possible paraneoplastic neuromyelitis optica associated with lung cancer

Neuromyelitis optica is associated with antibodies to aquaporin-4 channels and has been classically defined as the occurrence of bilateral optic neuritis and transverse myelitis with no other neurological involvement. We describe here a 63-year-old woman who presented to our local hospital with an acute, bilateral visual loss followed by progressive paraparesis. Medical evaluations revealed a lung tumor and spinal MRI showed multiple cervical-dorsal hyperintense T(2) lesions with mild mass effect. Testing for NMO-Ig resulted positive. Patient's diagnosis was thus consistent with a possible paraneoplastic neuromyelitis optica associated with non-small cell lung cancer and evidence of NMO-Ig.