Overview of symptoms, pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of various acquired polyneuropathies / 한양의대학술지

Polyneuropathy includes a lot of diseases damaging peripheral nerves. It shows roughly the same areas on both sides of the body, featuring weakness, numbness, and burning pain. Polyneuropathy is known to usually begin in the hands and feet and progress to the arms and legs. Sometimes it can involve other parts of the body such as the autonomic nervous system. Lots of causes can induce acute or chronic polyneuropathy, so finding the original cause is most important for the treatment of polyneuropathy. There are too many different types of polyneuropathies to be discussed in this review, so we will discuss some of various acquired polyneuropathies such as diabetic neuropathy, vasculitic neuropathy, alcoholic neuropathy, Vitamin B12 deficiency neuropathy, and drug-induced neuropathy, with special focus on symptoms, pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis.

Electrophysiological and Behavioral Changes by Phosphodiesterase 4 Inhibitor in a Rat Model of Alcoholic Neuropathy

OBJECTIVE: Alcoholic neuropathy is characterized by allodynia (a discomfort evoked by normally innocuous stimuli), hyperalgesia (an exaggerated pain in response to painful stimuli) and spontaneous burning pain. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of rolipram, a phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor, against alcohol-induced neuropathy in rats. METHODS: Allodynia was induced by administering 35% v/v ethanol (10 g/kg; oral gavage) to Spraue-Dawley rats for 8 weeks. Rolipram and saline (vehicle) were administered intraperitoneally. Mechanical allodynia was measured by using von Frey filaments. Somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) was proposed as complementary measure to assess the integrity of nerve pathway. RESULTS: The ethanol-induced mechanical allodynia began to manifest from 3 week, and then peaked within 1 week. Beginning from 3 week, latency significantly started to increased in control group. In rolipram treated rats, the shorter latency was sustained until 8 weeks (p<0.05). The mechanical allodynia, which began to manifest on the 3 weeks, intraperitoneal injections of rolipram sustained statistical difference until 8 weeks, the final week of the study (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: This study suggests that rolipram might alleviate mechanical allodynia induced by alcohol in rats, which clearly has clinical implication.

Perfil de comorbidade psiquiátrica em pacientes com diagnóstico de infecção pelo HIV, HTLV e doença de chagas acompanhados em um ambulatório de psiquiatria / Psychiatric comorbidity profile in HIV- infected, HTLVinfected and chagas disease patients followed in an outpatient psychiatry clinic

Doenças infecciosas crônicas podem causar ou agravar transtornos mentaisem decorrência de efeitos diretos no sistema nervoso central, como respostaindividual ao adoecimento, alteração da imunidade com surgimento de infecçõesoportunistas ou em função de efeitos colaterais do tratamento específico. O objetivodo presente estudo foi avaliar as características clínicas, sociodemográficas, o perfilde comorbidade psiquiátrica e de alterações cognitivas em pacientes ambulatoriaiscom diagnóstico de infecção pelo HIV, HTLV e doença de Chagas do Instituto dePesquisa Clínica Evandro Chagas (IPEC) da Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Trata-se deum estudo seccional com uma amostra consecutiva de 125 pacientes encaminhadosao ambulatório de psiquiatria no período de fevereiro a dezembro de 2010. A coletade dados foi realizada por meio de fichas padronizadas incluindo informações sobrecaracterísticas sociodemográficas e clínicas e aplicação dos instrumentos MiniInternational Neuropsychiatric Interview- versão Plus (MINI-Plus 5.0) paradiagnósticos psiquiátricos e Mini Exame do Estado Mental (MEEM) para rastreio dedéficit cognitivo, ambos validados para a língua portuguesa do Brasil. Foi realizadauma análise descritiva com frequências simples e medidas de dispersão de variáveissociodemográficas e clínicas, dos diagnósticos obtidos pelo MINI-Plus e alteraçãocognitiva detectada pelo MEEM segundo o ponto de corte proposto pela SociedadeBrasileira de Neurologia. A associação entre as variáveis categóricassociodemográficas / clínicas e os transtornos mentais mais prevalentes e a alteraçãodo MEEM, foi avaliada utilizando-se os testes qui-quadrado ou exato de Fisher eteste t de Student ou Mann-Whitney para variáveis contínuas. Foram estimadas asrazões de chance (OR) com respectivos intervalos de confiança de 95% (IC 95%)...

Chronic infectious diseases can cause or exacerbate mental disorders due todirect effects on the central nervous system, as individual response to illness,changes in immunity and onset of opportunistic infections or because of treatmentside effects. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical, sociodemographicprofile of psychiatric comorbidity and cognitive impairment in HIV-infected, HTLVinfected,and Chagas disease patients from the Evandro Chagas Clinical ResearchInstitute (IPEC), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation. This is a cross-sectional study with aconsecutive sample of 125 patients referred to psychiatric outpatient clinic fromFebruary to December 2010. Data collection was performed using standardizedforms including information on clinical and sociodemographic characteristics. MiniInternational Neuropsychiatric Interview-Plus (MINI-Plus 5.0) and Mini Mental StateExamination (MMSE) were administered to assess psychiatric diagnoses andcognitive impairment screening, respectively. Both instruments were validated forPortuguese language. A descriptive analysis was performed with simple frequenciesand measures of dispersion of demographic and clinical variables, diagnosesobtained by the MINI-Plus and cognitive impairment detected by MMSE according toa cutoff point proposed by the Brazilian Society of Neurology. The associationbetween categorical variables and demographic / clinical and mental disorder andchanges in MMSE was assessed using the chi-square or Fisher exact test, andStudent t test or Mann-Whitney test for continuous variables...

Neuropatías de fibras pequeñas de origen tóxico: [revisión] / Small fiber neuropathies of toxic origin: [review]

La neurona sensorial de fibras pequeñas se encarga de la función termoalgésica y autonómica, función que se ve afectada por procesos tóxicos, mediados por sustancias como la del alcohol o por medicamentos antineoplásicos, biológicos o inmunoreguladores, en los que se comprometen en gran medida los factores neutróficos que soportan o mantienen a las estructuras neuronales sensoriales. Estas sustancias penetran en las neuronas sensoriales en los ganglios de las raíces dorsales, que carece de barrera protectora afectan especialmente a los factores de crecimiento neural (NGF), y de crecimiento neural derivado del cerebro BDNF, que son los encargados de restaurar y mantener las estructuras que median sus acciones a través de sustancia P y acetilcolina, de allí su sintomatología de dolor quemante y de los cambios autonómicos. Esta toxicidad varía en gran medida por la concentración de las sustancias en el ganglio de la raíz dorsal o por las alteraciones que se originan en las mitocondrial por disregulación en la homeostasis del calcio o de procesos asociados. También se puede presentar compromiso en las subunidades de las beta-tubulinas de las axones que se comprometen en la división celular y en la apoptosis, originando compromiso en el transporte axonal. Una estrategia terapéutica es la prevención de estas complicaciones o la supresión de la sustancia, lo cual debe revertir el proceso. La administración de factores neurotróficos puede prevenir o tratar estas complicaciones, una manera más racional es la corrección de las deficiencias nutricionales, sustancias esenciales para la toxicidad de medicamentos función de estas estructuras con la administración de oligoelementos de calcio y magnesio, previa y posteriormente a la administración de medicamentos con reconocida toxicidad en los nervios de fibras pequeñas.

Alcohol-Related Neurologic Disorders: Ten Years of Experiences

Alcohol-related disorders are among the most costly health problems worldwide. Ingested alcohol is mainly metabolized by an oxidative pathway in the liver. Alcohol and its metabolic products (e.g., acetaldehyde and reactive oxygen species) have toxic effects on multiple organs, especially the nervous system. The diverse mechanisms of alcohol-related neurologic disorders include the direct toxic effects of alcohol, the alcohol withdrawal effect, nutritional deficiency secondary to alcoholism, and abnormalities of serum electrolytes and osmolality. We analyzed 156 cases of alcoholrelated neurologic disorders among admitted patients that had been referred in Korea during the previous 10 years. The duration of alcohol consumption ranged from 0.5 to 47 years (mean=17.8 years) and the mean amount of alcohol intake per day was 245.5 g. The 156 patients had the following diseases: Wernicke's encephalopathy (n=81, 51.9%), peripheral neuropathy (n=68, 43.6%), delirium tremens (n=59, 37.8%), Rum fit (n=31, 19.9%), pellagra encephalopathy (n=29, 18.6%), Korsakoff's psychosis (n=22, 14.2%), cerebellar atrophy (n=11, 7.0%), and alcoholic myopathy (n=6, 3.8%). We report on these cases and review the literature on alcohol-related neurologic disorders.

novel technique using measurements of galvanic skin resistance and heart rate variability to review the autonomic changes in chronic alcoholics

Alcohol has been widely consumed since prehistoric times by people around the world, as a component of the standard diet, for hygienic or medical reasons, for its relaxant and euphoric effects, for recreational purposes, for artistic inspiration and as aphrodisiacs. Alcohol is known to affect the sympathetic and parasympathetic activity, though the exact disturbances and degree of damage to the autonomic nervous system is not fully understood and possibility of reciprocal damage to these nerves have not been studied. Sympathetic nerve function was assessed by measurement of the galvanic skin resistance [GSR] Parasympathetic nerve function was assessed by R-R interval variation during deep breathing as measured by the heart rate variability [HRV] by the expiration/inspiration [E/I] ratio. 135 chronic alcoholics admitted to the Velankini rehabilitation ward were selected for this study. GSR was measured using GSR meter and HRV was assessed manually from calculation of the mean R-R interval and its standard deviation measured on short-term electrocardiograms. Karl Pearson correlation was used to look for an association between GSR and HRV. A negative correlation of-0.919 was obtained. This signified that higher the sympathetic activity, lesser the vagal activity. Thus chronic consumption of alcohol has caused a proportional and reciprocal damage of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves in the human system

Mononeuropatía postraumática en la Unidad de Trauma del Hospital Universitario del Valle, Cali / Postraumatic mononeuropathies in the Valle University Hospital, Cali

Introducción: La mononeuropatía es la más común de las neuropatías dolorosas; los síndromes de atrapamiento y el trauma son las causas más frecuentes. Materiales y métodos: Se realizó un estudio retrospectivo con 164 casos de mononeuropatía postraumática distribuidos en 134 pacientes que ingresaron a la Unidad de Trauma del Hospital Universitario del Valle, Cali, entre agosto, 1999 y julio, 2000. Resultados: Se encontró a la mononeuropatía postraumática como una entidad de predominancia masculina (88.1/100) con una mayor incidencia en los grupos de adolescentes y adultos jóvenes (15-29 años). El tiempo promedio de diagnóstico fue 3.6 días, con 57.9/100 de las lesiones diagnosticadas el mismo día de ingreso a la unidad de trauma.Conclusiones: En el HUV existe buena habilidad y conocimiento del personal médico de urgencias para diagnosticar las mononeuropatías después de un trauma. Sin embargo, sirve poco diagnosticarlas oportunamente si el tratamiento adecuado no se brinda en forma rápida y adecuada

Acute alcoholic myopathy, rhabdomyolysis and acute renal failure: a case report.

A case of middle aged male who developed swelling and weakness of muscles in the lower limbs following a heavy binge of alcohol is being reported. He had myoglobinuria and developed acute renal failure for which he was dialyzed. Acute alcoholic myopathy is not a well recognized condition and should be considered in any intoxicated patient who presents with muscle tenderness and weakness.

Changes in Blood Superoxide Dismutase Activities after Alcohol Withdrawal

OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to evaluate changes in plasma superoxide dismutase(SOD) activities in alcohol depedence, to fine out variables to influence on the SOD activities, and finally to identify the correlation of SOD activities with the alcohol-associated cognitive disorders. METHODS: For 24 male alcoholics and 21 healthy male controls, plasma SOD activities were measured by spectrophotometry on 1-2 wks after alcohol withdrawal. Structured interviews and laboratory tests were also performed. RESULTS: 1) Upon comparing SOD activities between controls and alcoholics, the SOD activities were significantly(p<0.01) lower in alcoholics(0.308+/-0.140 units/mL) than in healthy controls(0.313+/-0.086 units/mL). 2) Upon comparing SOD activities according to the presence of alcohol-related cognitive disorders, the SOD activities were significantly(p<0.05) lower in alcoholics with cognitive disorders(0.247+/-0.049 units/mL) than in alcoholics without cognitive disorders(0.317+/-0.148 units/mL). 3) Upon comparing SOD activities according to the presence of alcoholic polyneuropathy or alcohol withdrawal seizure, the SOD activities showed no significant differences between alcoholics with polyneuropathy or epilepsy and those without. 4) Upon analyzing variables influencing on the SOD activities in alcoholics, the SOD activities had the negative correlation with hemoglobin(gamma=-0.433) and severity of alcohol withdrawal symptoms(gamma=-0.375). 5) Upon comparing variables according to the presence of alcohol-related cognitive disorders, the occurrence of alcoholic polyneuropathy(p<0.05) and blood phosphorus concentrations(p<0.01) were significantly higher in alcoholics with cognitive disorders than those without. 6) Upon analyzing an association between SOD activities and variables in alcoholics with cognitive disorders, the SOD activities were positively correlated with the onset age(gamma=0.995), and negatively correlated with the severity of alcohol withdrawal symptoms(gamma=-0.996). CONCLUSIONS: Lower SOD activities in alcohol dependence suggested alcohol-associated cognitive disorders and alcohol withdrawal symptoms might be caused by oxidative stress.

Association of Sexual Disorders with Peripheral Neuropathy in Alcohol Dependence

The alcoholic neuropathies developed in approximately 34% of chronic alcoholics and the sexual dysfunction had been experienced in 8-54% of male alcoholics(Schiavi 1990). The aims of this study were to identify the prevalence of subclinical polyneuropathies and sexual disorders in alcohol dependence, and to evaluate the association between them. The nerve conduction velocity(NCY), electromyography(EMG), and pudendal somatosensory evoked potentials(SEPs were tested for the male alcoholics(N=34) and controls(N=17 for NCV & EMG, N=25 for pudendal SEPs). The pudendal SEPs were measured by the following procedures, in which we simulated the dorsal nerve of penis attached by the ring electrode(stimulus intensity, three times of threshold ; stimulus rate, 1-4.7Hz: stimulus duration, 0.1 or 0.2msec), and recorded at the scalp(active electrode, 2cm behind Cz ; reference electrode, Fz. The NCV and EMG detected signs of peripheral neuropathies in 79.4% of alcoholics. Among the alcoholics, 64.7% were abnormal on the pudendal SEPs. Among the alcoholics who revealed abnormality on EMG and NCV, 81.4% were abnormal on the pudendal SEPs, in which 51.9% were not responded. The P1 latencies between peripheral neuropathies and sexual disorders in the alcoholic. The prevalence of subclinical neuropathies and sexual disorders seemed to be much higher in alcohol dependence that expectation, and these two problems were relatively correlated, and our results suggested that the peripheral polyneuropathies were one of the prerequisites of sexual disorders.

Clinical and Electrophysiological Characteristics of Alcoholic Neuropathy

Authors analyzed clinical and electrophysiological features of 35 patients with alcoholic neuropathy who had visited the Boramae City Hospital. All patients were men. Most of the cases drank alcohol everyday. The duration of alcohol consumption is from 2 to 47 years (mean, 17.8 years). Patients with relatively short history of alcohol consumption had a tendency to take more inadequate meals. Clinically we found two distinct separable categories ; one was sensorimotor peripheral neuropathy associated with other alcoholic complications, such as Wemicke and Pellagra disease, delirium tremens, liver disease etc(24 patients). The other had subacutely progressing prominent weakness with sensory change, especially in lower extremities(ll patients). Electrophysiological studies showed decreased amplitudes of sensory or motor compound action potentials with relative preservation of conduction velocity favoring axonal neuropathy. Among the electrophysiological parameters, abnormalities in F-wave(78.3%), H-reflex(86.4%) and sural nerve conduction studies(78.8%) were more frequently observed than in others, which were thought to be more sensitive parameters with early involvement. In terms of electrophysiological pattern there were no definite diffemeces between the two groups.