[Polyneuropathy in gasoline addiction, a report of three cases]

ABSTRACT

The polyneuropathy caused by chronic Gasoline Sniffing is reported to be a gradually progressive, symmetric, sensorimotor polyneuropathy. The report of gasoline sniffing by three 12, 16 and18 years old brothers [Respectively 5, 8 and 11 years of gasoline inhalation addiction] that referred with peripheral neuropathy was studied. The conditions were characterized by relatively small reduction in nerve conduction velocity [depending on the severity of nerve involvement] and to some degree in all four limbs with moderate to severe sensory and motor involvement, lower limbs had worse conditions than upper limbs. The neuropathy was attributed to the N-hexane and tetraethyl, the lead components of gasoline. Educational efforts about the dangers of gasoline sniffing are essential