Neurological rarity

Lambert–Eaton myasthenic syndrome

Richard Petty

Consultant Neurologist, Department of Neurology, Southern General Hospital, 1345 Govan Road, Glasgow G51 4TF, UK; richard.petty@sgh.scot.nhs.uk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The term "myasthenia" comes from the Latin "myos" meaning muscle, and the Greek asthenes, meaning a- (without) + sthenos (strength), and so it literally means muscle weakness, not fatiguable weakness. In common parlance, however, the term "myasthenic weakness" is used to describe the fatiguability which is a cardinal feature of myasthenia gravis, an acquired, autoimmune, post-synaptic disorder. In 1956 Lambert, Eaton and Rooke described a novel acquired pre-synaptic neuromuscular transmission disorder which has become referred to as the Lambert–Eaton myasthenic syndrome or LEMS. Indeed, it is described as a "myasthenic" syndrome in textbooks alongside myasthenia gravis but, potentially confusingly, it is not usually characterised by prominent complaints of fatiguable weakness and the clinical picture is unlike conventional myasthenia gravis. This commonly leads to diagnostic delay in a treatable disorder.

A woman presented at the age of 32 years. She gave a four-year history of bilateral knee pain and had thought . . . [Full text of this article]

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