Trigeminal neuralgia leading to a diagnosis of ovarian cancer: a timely coincidence or a case of paraneoplastic syndrome?
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Tom Lyne; Ahmad Sayasneh; Jonathan Gaughran
- Source
- BMJ Case Rep
- Subject
- Chin
Pathology
medicine.medical_specialty
Paraneoplastic Syndromes
Case Report
Inferior alveolar nerve
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Trigeminal neuralgia
medicine
Humans
Trigeminal Nerve
Oral mucosa
Ovarian Neoplasms
Trigeminal nerve
business.industry
General Medicine
Middle Aged
Trigeminal Neuralgia
medicine.disease
medicine.anatomical_structure
Allodynia
030220 oncology & carcinogenesis
Female
Differential diagnosis
medicine.symptom
Ovarian cancer
business
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
- Language
- ISSN
- 1757-790X
A 51-year-old woman was referred to oral medicine with a 2-month history of progressive paraesthesia of the right lip, chin and oral mucosa. Examination revealed decreased sensation to the right dermatone of the inferior alveolar nerve and allodynia to light touch of the lower lip. An MRI of the head revealed bilateral cisternal trigeminal nerve pathological enhancement. While blood tests suggested a connective tissue disorder as the cause of the trigeminal neuralgia, a subsequent diagnosis of high-grade serous ovarian cancer gave a differential diagnosis of paraneoplastic syndrome.