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Article
March 1987

Improvement of Neurologic Function in Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyradiculoneuropathy Following Intravenous γ-Globulin Infusion

Author Affiliations

Departments of Clinical Hematology and Psychiatry Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University School of Medicine 593 Eddy St Providence, RI 02902

Arch Neurol. 1987;44(3):248-249. doi:10.1001/archneur.1987.00520150004002
Abstract

To the Editor.  —Recently, Dyck et al1 reported that plasma exchange produces improvement in patients with severe chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) when treatment is begun early in the course of the disease. The cause of the CIDP is unknown, but an abnormality of immunity has been presumed.2Immunoglobulin has been shown to suppress the patient's own antibodies or act through a blockade of the reticuloendothelial system, and immunoglobulin infusions have been suggested to be beneficial in patients with immune disorders.3,4 This suggested a rationale for immunoglobulin infusion in a patient with CIDP and hypogammaglobulinemia. The marked clinical improvement following such therapy prompted this report.

Report of a Case.  —A 41-year-old woman presented at our institution with worsening neuropathic pain and decreasing motor function over the previous month. A diagnosis of CIDP had been established by biopsy eight years previously. She had been managed on maintenance prednisone

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