Walsh & Hoyt: Eaton-Lambert Syndrome: Clinical Features

This myasthenic syndrome, also called the Eaton-Lambert syndrome, is more common in men than in women when associated with malignancies. Almost all of those affected are adults, but children with the disorder have been described. About 60% of patients have a malignant neoplasm, almost always small-cell lung cancer, but this syndrome has also been described in patients with carcinoma of the breast, prostate, stomach, pancreas, kidney, and rectum; in patients with lymphoma and other lymphoproliferative diseases; and in patients with lung cancers other than the small-cell variety. As is the case with most of the other paraneoplastic syndromes described in this chapter, symptoms and signs of the Eaton-Lambert syndrome frequently develop before there is any clinical evidence of a malignancy.