Neuromyelitis optica (NMO), or Devic's syndrome, is an autoimmune central nervous system demyelinating disorder primarily affecting the spinal cord and the optic nerves. It is characterized by the presence of NMO antibodies, alongside clinical and radiological findings. NMO and NMO-spectrum disorders (NMO-SD) have been reported in autoimmune disorders, and are infrequently described as a paraneoplastic syndrome with cancers of lung, breast, and carcinoid tumors of the thyroid. We report a patient who presented with severe vomiting, blurring of vision, vertigo, diplopia, left hemiparesis and hemisensory loss and ataxia. She was found to have a longitudinally-extensive demyelinating lesion extending from the medulla to the upper cervical spinal cord on MRI. Her gastric endoscopy revealed carcinoid tumor of the stomach, and classic paraneoplastic antibodies in the serum were negative. She had extremely high serum gastrin level and high titer of NMO IgG autoantibody. The patient made an excellent recovery with tumor resection and immunotherapy, with both clinical and radiological improvement. On rare instances, NMO or NMO-SD may present as a paraneoplastic neurological syndrome associated with carcinoid tumor of the stomach.

BackgroundMonomelic amyotrophy is an uncommon, benign, unilateral disorder of the lower motor neurons, affecting predominantly the hand and forearm muscles. Proximal involvement of the arm and shoulder muscles is an unusual presentation that has been rarely reported in the literature.Case presentationA 28-year-old white man presented with insidious-onset, slowly progressive, unilateral weakness and atrophy of his left shoulder girdle and deltoid muscles. A neurological examination revealed weakness and atrophy in his left deltoid, infraspinatus and supraspinatus muscles. Electromyography demonstrated an active and chronic neurogenic pattern affecting his left C5 and C6 myotomes; magnetic resonance imaging of his cervical spine was normal. He did well with conservative treatment.ConclusionsUpper limb proximal form of monomelic amyotrophy is a rare clinical entity with a wide differential diagnosis. Physicians, especially neurologists, should be familiar with this benign condition to avoid inappropriately labeling patients as having amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other disorders with less favorable outcomes.

Hyponatremia is defined as serum sodium of <135 mmol/L and equates with a low serum osmolality once translocational hyponatremia and pseudohyponatremia are ruled out. True hyponatremia develops when normal urine-diluting mechanisms are disturbed. In elderly patients, this complication is not uncommon, especially in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Medications are often the most common cause of hyponatremia in these patients. Herewith, we reported a 65-year-old Saudi male, a known case of benign prostatic hypertrophy and hypertension, who developed recurrent hyponatremia secondary to tolterodine. To our knowledge, this is the fifth case reported in literature of such association.

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