[Central nervous system damage in inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathies]. / Porazhenie tsentral'noi nervnoi sistemy pri vospalitel'nykh demieliniziruiushchikh polinevropatiiakh.

ABSTRACT

The results of subclinical brain damage study of 20 patients with inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, aged 46.5 +/- 3.7 years, are presented. Eleven patients were diagnosed to have Guillain--Barre syndrome and 9--chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy. No clinical systems for central nervous system damage were found. Magnetic resonance tomography defected demyelination foci in periventricular and sub-cortical brain regions in 35% of the patients and diffuse atrophic process--in 55%. Registration of brainstem acoustic-evoked potentials showed bilateral latency increase and a change of a signal shape in 60% of the patients. Possible mechanisms of combined damage of central and peripheral nervous system in this pathology are discussed.