Clinical characteristics of patients with motor neuron disease and concurrent tumors

To the Editor:Motor neuron disease(MND)is a kind of progressive,fatal neurodegenerative disease involving the upper and lower motor neurons and the pyramidal tract.Currently,the etiology of MND remains unknown,and there are limited treatment strategies.Paraneoplastic syndrome(PNS)is a rare form of MND-mimic syndrome.There have been reports of MND-like clinical symptoms in patients with different types of cancer,including breast cancer,lung cancer,and lymphoma.Epidemiological studies have drawn different conclusions,some have suggested that there is no relation between site-specific cancers and the risk of incident amyotrophic lateral sclerosis(ALS),while others have found that the overall risk of cancer of any site is significantly reduced in cases with ALS.[1]However,the prevalence of tumors in Chinese MND patients and the characteristics of patients with MND concomitant tumors are unclear.