Olivopontocerebellar atrophy: paraneoplastic syndrome of brain tumour?

We describe a patient who, three years after the onset of an olivopontocere bellar atrophy, developed a right cerebral tumour. The cerebellar symptomat ology also included, as in other cerebellar patients previously described, a peripheral dysgraphia. Because this deficit of writing is generally repor ted in patients with right cerebral lesion, the authors hypothesized that f unctional alterations of supratentorial structures preceding the tumour by years may be able to damage the neural substrates connecting cerebral and c erebellar structures and to produce cerebellar atrophy.