Nervous system dysfunction in Waldenström's macroglobulinemia: response to treatment

A patient presented with a peripheral neuropathy and was found to have Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia with high serum titers of antibodies to myelin-associated glycoprotein. He developed parkinsonism that was poorly responsive to levodopa. He failed conventional therapy and was treated with autologous bone marrow transplantation, which resulted in improvement of the neuropathy but not his parkinsonism. Critical cytoreduction in the B-cell clone may be necessary for improvement of the neuropathy of Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia.