Rehabilitation Treatment Options for a Patient with Paraneoplastic Cerebellar Degeneration

Perlmutter E, Gregory PC: Rehabilitation treatment options for a patient with paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration. Am J Phys Med Rehabil 2003;82:158–162. Paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration is a neurologic syndrome associated with carcinoma. Medical management is limited to treatment of the underlying malignancy with excision, plasmapharesis, immunosuppression, or chemotherapy. We report on the case of a woman with paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration who showed improvements in functional mobility after 3 wk of comprehensive inpatient rehabilitation. This case demonstrates the functional improvements of one patient with paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration after intensive rehabilitation and describes the specific treatment interventions utilized.