Acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy in a diabetic patient: predominance of vesicular disruption in myelin sheaths

Acta Neuropathol. 1985;67(3-4):337-40. doi: 10.1007/BF00687823.

Abstract

A diabetic woman underwent an incision of the right big toe for an abscess and developed a typical Guillain-Barré syndrome 48 h later. A biopsy of a peripheral nerve, performed 10 days later, showed modifications usually seen in diabetic patients, as well as the characteristic ultrastructural modifications of the Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). Moreover, 22% of myelinated fibers exhibited vesicular disruption of the myelin sheaths. This lesion is rarely encountered on the biopsies of peripheral nerve in GBS and concerns only a few myelinated fibers. Such a prominence of myelinic vesicular disruption and its occurrence in a diabetic patient are discussed.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Acute Disease
  • Aged
  • Biopsy
  • Diabetic Neuropathies / pathology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Microscopy, Electron
  • Myelin Sheath / pathology*
  • Myelin Sheath / ultrastructure
  • Peroneal Nerve / pathology
  • Peroneal Nerve / ultrastructure
  • Polyradiculoneuropathy / pathology*