In the borderland of multifocal motor neuropathy and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculopathy

Neurol Sci. 2021 Mar;42(3):1131-1134. doi: 10.1007/s10072-020-04804-9. Epub 2020 Oct 19.

Abstract

Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculopathy (CIDP) and multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN) are seen as distinct entities with marked differences in pathophysiology and clinical, laboratory, and imaging features. We report a patient with an immune-mediated neuropathy in the borderland of CIDP and MMN, whose magnetic resonance imaging and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) features strongly resembled CIDP, while the clinical course and treatment response suggested the diagnosis of MMN without conduction blocks. There is strong evidence that MMN is not a variant of CIDP and that these conditions can be separated pathologically. Our case report widens the spectrum of MMN presentations, indicating the existence of a clinical overlap syndrome of MMN and CIDP, and emphasizing the need for more precise criteria regarding CSF and nerve root imaging abnormalities in the differentiation of chronic immune-mediated neuropathies.

Keywords: Cerebrospinal fluid protein; Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculopathy; Differential diagnosis; Magnetic resonance imaging; Multifocal motor neuropathy; Nerve conduction studies; Overlap.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Humans
  • Neural Conduction
  • Peripheral Nerves
  • Polyneuropathies* / diagnostic imaging
  • Polyradiculoneuropathy, Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating* / diagnostic imaging
  • Polyradiculopathy*