Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy In A Patient With A Leprosy Reversal Reaction: A Case Report

Abstract

Andrade LR, Jardim MR, Pitta IJR, Giesel LM, Silveira RC, Vital RT, Nery JAC and Sarno EN

Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) is a condition that affects the peripheral nervous system with progressive limb weakness, with predilection for proximal muscles, sensory loss and areflexia and it has a relapsing or progressive course. The physiopathology is still unclear, but it is probably an autoimmune disease involving autoreactive T and B cells. CIDP is well described in association with many diseases but not with leprosy reaction wich is an immunologically mediated episode of acute inflammation that occurs in any time of leprosy disease, including after the multidrug therapy. Here we presented a patient who developed CIDP in the context of a leprosy reversal reaction, years after the end of leprosy treatment who recovered for both conditions after corticosteroid therapy. This patient’s CIDP presentation could be attributed to cell injury caused by type 1 reaction that exposed the neural antigens and incited an autoimmune reaction.

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