Paraneoplastic stiff person syndrome: Inpatient rehabilitation outcomes of a rare disease from two cancer rehabilitation programmes.

Abstract

Paraneoplastic stiff person syndrome is a rare, but debilitating, manifestation of cancer, characterized by painful extremities, truncal and facial spasms. The resultant functional impairment may necessitate comprehensive rehabilitation and symptom management. This case series describes the acute inpatient rehabilitation courses of 2 patients at different tertiary care referral cancer rehabilitation programmes, including work-up and diagnosis, medical management of symptoms, and functional outcomes. Both patients had a reduction in symptom burden and an improvement in motor function as a result of multidisciplinary acute inpatient rehabilitation.