1/140. Clinical, pathologic, and neurochemical studies of an unusual case of neuronal storage disease with lamellar cytoplasmic inclusions: a new genetic disorder? A child of first-cousin Puerto Rican parents had global developmental delay, failure to thrive, and hypotonia since early infancy. At 1 1/2 years of age, she developed clinical and electrophysiologic evidence of progressive motor and sensory neuropathy. At 2 1/2 years, she developed visual impairment and optic atrophy followed by gradual involvement of the 7th, 9th, 10th, and 12th cranial nerves. Uncontrollable myoclonic seizures began at 4 years and she died at 6 years of age. Motor nerve conduction velocities were initially normal and later became markedly slowed. Sensory distal latency responses were absent. Lysosomal enzyme activities in leukocytes and fibroblasts were normal. sural nerve and two muscle biopsies showed only nondiagnostic abnormalities. Electron microscopy of lymphocytes, skin, and fibroblasts showed cytoplasmic inclusions. light microscopy of frontal cortex biopsy showed neuronal storage material staining positively with Luxol fast blue, and electron microscopy showed cytoplasmic membranous bodies in neurons, suggesting an accumulation of a ganglioside. At autopsy, all organs were small but otherwise normal and without abnormal storage cells in the liver, spleen, or bone marrow. Anterior spinal nerve roots showed loss of large myelinated axons. The brain was small and atrophic; cortical neurons showed widespread accumulation of storage material, most marked in the pyramidal cell layer of the hippocampus. Subcortical white matter was gliotic with loss of axons and myelin sheaths. In cortical gray matter there was a 35% elevation of total gangliosides, with a 16-fold increase in GM3, a three- to four-fold increase in GM2 gangliosides, and a 15-fold elevation of lactosyl ceramide. GM3 sialidase activity was normal in gray matter at 3.1 nmols/mg protein per hour and lactosyl ceraminidase I and II activities were 70% to 80% of normal. In white matter, total myelin was reduced by 50% but its composition was normal. Phospholipid distribution and sphingomyelin content were normal in gray matter, white matter, and in the liver. These biochemical findings were interpreted as nonspecific abnormalities. The nature of the neuronal storage substance remains to be determined. ( info) |
2/140. Hereditary sensory neuropathy with deafness and dementia: a clinical and neuroimaging study. We describe three sibling patients with autosomal dominantly inherited sensory neuropathy, sensorineural hearing loss and dementia. The features of cognitive-behavioral deficits in the patients, including executive dysfunction, apathy, indifference and inattention, were consistent with a frontal lobe dysfunction. magnetic resonance imaging showed a diffuse brain atrophy. A fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography in one patient and a single photon emission computed tomography in another demonstrated a glucose hypometabolism or a hypoperfusion in the medial frontal and thalamic regions. Primary frontal involvement or frontal dysfunction secondary to thalamic lesions may contribute to the nature of dementia in these patients. ( info) |
3/140. pupil abnormality in amyloidosis with autonomic neuropathy. darkness pupil diameters, light reflexes, and redilatation times have been recorded with infrared TV pupillometry in 12 consecutive patients with systemic amyloidosis associated with sensory motor and autonomic neuropathy. Nine of the patients had AL amyloidosis, two had familial amyloidosis associated with a transthyretin abnormality, and one was untyped. The pupils were abnormal in all 12 patients. On the basis of redilatation lag without pupillotonia, six patients had bilateral Horner's syndrome and in one of them amyloid deposits were found in a sympathetic ganglion and in the attached sympathetic chain obtained at necropsy. Four patients had bilateral tonic pupils with light-near dissociation and two had abnormally small pupils with reduced light reactions which could not be characterised. It seems that in patients with systemic amyloidosis generalised autonomic neuropathy is strongly associated with pupil abnormality as shown by tonic reactions with light-near dissociation, by redilatation lag, or by reduced size in darkness. ( info) |
4/140. Hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy: review and a case report with dental implications. Hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy (HSAN) is a rare syndrome which is seen in early childhood. Five different types are described. Absence of pain and self-mutilation are characteristic findings of this syndrome. Teeth in the oral cavity can cause damage to the oral tissues and tongue. When it is diagnosed, there should be co-operation between dentist and neurologist. Using an oral shield prevents the biting and, thus, traumatization of the tissues can be prevented. A case report which is diagnosed as HSAN type 4 is presented and information submitted about its treatment. ( info) |
5/140. Congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis. Report of a case and review of the literature. In a previous paper published in this journal, we reported two cases of "Congenital Sensory Neuropathy with Anhidrosis" with reference to the orthopedic complications (Theodorou et al., 1985). We now present a new typical case, under the currently used term: "Congenital Insensitivity to pain with Anhidrosis" (CIPA) and a brief review of the literature on the incidence, etiology and problems arising in various systems. CIPA is an autosomal recessive form of sensory neuropathy manifesting with typical clinical features. Universal insensitivity to pain, anhidrosis or hypohidrosis, bouts of hyperpyrexia from very young age, self inflicted injuries, defective or absent lacrimation and mental retardation are specific diagnostic findings. Orthopedic, maxillofacial, dermatological and ophthalmologic complications are common. counseling of the family and school personnel for the prevention of injuries is necessary. early diagnosis is very important for the prevention and treatment of various complications. The etiology and pathogenesis of the condition is still unclear. The recent detection of a new gene, which encodes a receptor tyrosine kinase for nerve growth factor and lately of a specific point mutation associated with the gene inactivation11, may open new ways for the study and management of this disabling condition. ( info) |
6/140. Cutaneous innervation in hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy type IV. The authors investigated immunocytochemically the innervation of a skin biopsy in a rare case of hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy type IV. A few protein gene product 9.5-, growth-associated protein 43-, calcitonin gene-related peptide-, and substance p-immunoreactive nerve fibers were observed in the deeper regions of the dermis. neuropeptide y-, nitric oxide-, and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide-immunoreactive fibers were completely absent. Their observations support the hypothesis that the sensory and autonomic defects reported in hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy are based on profound developmental alterations of the peripheral nervous system. ( info) |
7/140. Hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy type II (HMSN-II) and neurogenic muscle hypertrophy: a case report and literature review. We present two siblings affected by hereditary motor and sensory type II neuropathy (HMSN-II) with neuromyotonia, and associated with muscle hypertrophy of the thighs and calves in one. We review the literature about the association between HMSN-II, neuromyotonia and muscle hypertrophy. Muscle enlargement in HMSN-II is rare and may be sporadic or under genetic control. In our patient, muscle hypertrophy was sporadic and probably due to neuromyotonia. The relationship between muscle hypertrophy and neuromyotonia can be deduced by the fact that both conditions were reduced after diphenylhydantoin treatment (200 mg/day). ( info) |
8/140. Painless fractures and thermoregulation disturbances in sensory-autonomic neuropathy: electrophysiological abnormalities and sural nerve biopsy. We describe the case of a young girl suffering from thermoregulation disturbances, painless fractures and arthropathy since early childhood. The patient was diagnosed as having a hereditary sensory autonomic neuropathy. Although needle EMG, conventional nerve conduction studies and somatosensory evoked potentials gave normal results, sympathetic skin responses (SSRs) were absent. sural nerve biopsy showed a substantial reduction in the number of small myelinated and unmyelinated fibers. We emphasize the importance of SSR testing in revealing a condition which is otherwise difficult to identify by electrophysiological techniques. The combined evidence of functional and morphological findings is strongly suggestive of selective peripheral nerve involvement. ( info) |
9/140. Absent innervation of skin and sweat glands in congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis. OBJECTIVES: A case of a 10-year-old girl with congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA) is reported. methods AND RESULTS: parents referred several hyperpyretic episodes without sweating occurring since birth, and insensitivity to pain, noticed when the child was 2 years old. Her body had many bruises and scars, bone fractures and signs of self-mutilation. Neurological examination was normal except for insensitivity to pain. Her IQ was 52. Electrical and tactile sensory nerve conduction velocities were normal. The patient was unable to detect thermal stimuli. histamine injection evoked a wheal but not a flare; pilocarpine by iontophoresis did not induce sweat. Microneurography showed neural activity from A-beta sensory fibers while nociceptive and skin sympathetic C fiber nerve activity was absent. No small myelinated fibers and very rare unmyelinated fibers were found in the sural nerve. immunohistochemistry showed a lack of nerve fibers in the epidermis and only few hypotrophic and uninnervated sweat glands in the dermis. CONCLUSIONS: The lack of innervation of the skin (C and A-delta fibers) appears to be the morphological basis of insensitivity to pain and anhidrosis, and is consistent with the loss of unmyelinated and small myelinated fibers in the sural nerve biopsy. ( info) |
10/140. Congenital sensory neuropathy. Ophthalmological implications. The authors examined a patient presenting with congenital sensory neuropathy with selective loss of small myelinated nerve fibres. The appearance of (bilaterial) keratitis or corneal ulceration in early childhood is strongly suggestive of congenital corneal anaesthesia. Concomitant symptoms such as anisocoria, abnormal pupillary reaction, diminished tear production and disturbed sensibility to pain and temperature point to a generalized disease: one of the hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathies. In order to establish a definite diagnosis, elaborate neurological examination, including ultrastructural study of a muscle-nerve biopsy, is required. Tarsorrhaphy, therapeutic flushfitting PMMA scleral lenses and hydrophilic HEMA contact lenses are advocated, in order to protect the cornea. The results with high-water-content hydrophilic contact lenses are promising, those of keratoplasty limited. ( info) |