From acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma - a challenge for diagnosis and treatment

Introduction: Paraneoplastic neurological syndromes (PNS), such as Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) are rarely associated with non-Hodkin's lymphoma (NHL), so far only isolated cases have been reported.

Material and method: This study aimed to assess scientific activity regarding non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and Guillain–Barré syndrome related research. We retrieved publications from Web of Science (WoS) and the VOSviewer tool was used to perform bibliometric analysis and visualization. In order to (1) provide an overview of the research in the field and (2) examine linkages/gaps/frontiers betwen/of researches, network diagrams based on authors, keywords, sources, references, citations were created. Key-concepts and relevant terminology of the topic are also identified. Paraneoplastic sensory-motor neuropathies that precede the diagnosis of lymphomas are mainly demyelinating neuropathies that may meet the diagnostic criteria for Guillain-Barré syndrome. The diagnosis, but especially the treatment of patients with GBS and NHL is a challenge, which requires a good collaboration between neurologists and hematologists as well as the evaluation of specialized studies, in order to choose the optimal therapeutic scheme. Also, using the VOSviewer tool we were allowed to find that more patients develop GBS after instituting chemotherapy for the NHL (17 studies) and in only 7 cases Guillain-Barré syndrome preceded the diagnosis of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Conclusions: Hematological malignancies can be aggravated by neurological disorders, each condition requiring separate treatment. Also, most of the time, the treatment of hematological disease induces the onset of Guillaine-Barre syndrome. This association of diseases, even if it is rare, must be known by specialists to allow a rapid therapeutic intervention. In addition, the use of the VOSvieview tool allowed us to evaluate publications in the Web of Science (WoS), providing easy access to published studies related to this topic, so that the therapeutic scheme of this category of patients can be facilitated.