Surgical treatment of superimposed nerve compressions in hepatitis C neuropathy.

The plastic surgeon's usual involvement in patients with hepatitis C is most frequently limited to an inner city population with hand and forearm abscesses from intravenous drug use or to incidences of needle-stick injury in the operating room when the patient is hepatitis C positive. Hand surgeons and peripheral nerve surgeons often treat patients with underlying neuropathies who have superimposed overlying nerve compressions such as carpal tunnel syndrome. We have applied this experience to a patient with underlying peripheral neuropathy associated with Hepatitis C and clinical evidence of overlying lower extremity nerve compressions. We believe that she is the first successful surgical treatment of peripheral nerve compressions in a patient with hepatitis C-associated neuropathy, documented by noninvasive neurosensory testing.

Peripheral neuropathy associated with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related Burkitt's lymphoma.

Peripheral neuropathy associated with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related Burkitt's lymphoma usually occurs as a toxic effect of chemotherapeutic agents. Whereas primary peripheral nerve involvement is an unusual complication, we report on a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patient with Burkitt's lymphoma and sciatic neuropathy due to compression by a lymphomatous mass. Therapy with radiation and chemotherapy was followed by clinical and radiological improvement, but recurrent neurological deficits in a similar distribution occurred later from lymphomatous meningitis.

[Lesions of the conus medullaris and the cauda equina caused by cytomegalovirus in HIV infection. 7 cases]. / Atteintes du cône terminal et de la queue de cheval dues au cytomégalovirus au cours de l'infection à VIH. 7 observations.

OBJECTIVES: Neurologic infections caused by cytomegalovirus are common in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The prognosis is particularly severe when the infection is localized in the conus medullaris and/or the cauda equina. METHODS: Among the 861 patients with AIDS treated in our unit from 1991 to 1993, 7 cases involving cytomegalovirus infection of the conus medullaris and/or the cauda equina were studied retrospectively. RESULTS OF THE CASE REPORTS: Clinical manifestations were nearly always the same: low back pain, motor deficiency in the lower limbs progressing to flaccid paraplegia and sphincter failure. The cerebrospinal fluid contained a high cell count with unaltered polynuclears and increased protein levels. In 6/7 patients virus cultures and search for the viral genome in the cerebrospinal fluid were positive. The clinical course was favourable in 6 patients after 3 weeks treatment with ganciclovir and/or foscarnet. Virology tests became negative in three-fourths of the patients. Nevertheless, relapse occurred after 4.2 weeks despite long-term therapy. CONCLUSION: The severe clinical course of this disease and the gravity of constantly fatal relapse requires highly adapted treatment and overall health care.