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SUMMARY In a prospective study of 70 unselected patients with chronic liver disease, clinical signs
of a peripheral neuropathy were observed in 13 patients. Abnormal nerve conduction was demon-
strated in nine of these and in one further patient who had no abnormal neurological signs. The
occurrence of a neuropathy (in patients with cryptogenic cirrhosis, haemochromatosis, active chronic
hepatitis as well as in alcoholic cirrhosis) could not be related to liver function, although it was
associated with higher IgA and IgM values. Clinical diabetes was present in six of the 14 patients
with neuropathy but there was no relation in the non-diabetic patients between neuropathy and
minor impairment of carbohydrate tolerance. Those with neuropathy had a significantly higher
incidence of oesophageal varices and there was also a relationship to a history of previous encephalo-
pathy. Sural nerve biopsy was carried out on 14 patients, eight of whom had clinical or electro-
diagnostic evidence of neuropathy. Single nerve fibres were examined by teasing and in all nerves
histological evidence was found of an indolent process which had damaged whole Schwann cells
and which resulted in demyelination and remyelination. Diabetic angiopathy was not seen and axonal
degeneration, which was never severe, was found in all disease groups equally.
The occurrence of a demyelinating peripheral ism, which accompany liver disease was also
neuropathy in liver disease was first described by examined.
Dayan and Williams (1967). Six of their 10
patients had clinical signs of nerve damage
including absent reflexes and impairment of METHODS
vibration sense or touch, although a biopsy of the
sural nerve showed active segmental demyelina- Seventy patients (36 males, 34 females) with histo-
tion in all. This type of Schwann cell disease logically proven cirrhosis or active chronic hepatitis
were questioned for symptoms indicative of peri-
also occurs in the neuropathy of diabetes and pheral neuropathy-namely, distal sensory loss,
other conditions (Thomas and Lascelles, 1966; paraesthesiae, clumsiness, or weakness. Examination
Gilliatt, 1969; Dayan, Gardner-Thorpe, Down, of the peripheral nervous system included the
and Gleadle, 1970), but is distinct from the appreciation of light touch, pinprick, and two-point
histological changes of axonal degeneration discrimination. Alteration in vibration sense was
usually seen in alcoholism (Victor, 1965). The sought by timing the duration of perception of a
cause of the segmental demyelination observed tuning fork (frequency 128/sec) placed on the
in the patients with liver disease was not estab- olecranon, second metacarpophalangeal joint, tibial
lished and the present study was undertaken to tubercles, and medial malleoli. Isolated loss or
determine the frequency of peripheral nerve reduction of ankle jerks in patients more than 60
damage in a larger series of patients who were years old was not considered abnormal.
The laboratory investigations included a blood
investigated by electrodiagnostic techniques as count and liver function tests, and in 48 patients the
well as clinically and by sural nerve biopsy. A serum immunoglobulins. In the first 23 patients
possible relationship to the biochemical changes, serum B12 and folate levels were measured and the
including disturbances of carbohydrate metabol- bone marrow examined. An oral glucose tolerance
22
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test (50 g load) was also carried out except in those data for these 14 patients are given in Table 1. In
patients known to be diabetic. none was there clinical evidence of severe arterial
disease.
ELECTRODIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES Nerve conduction Neuropathy was found most frequently in
velocities were measured in both lateral popliteal alcoholic cirrhosis and haemochromatosis (Table
nerves stimulating at the head of the fibula and at
the ankle. Velocities were also obtained for the 2) but the numbers in some of the aetiological
upper and lower segments of left median and ulnar groups were relatively small. None of the
nerves by stimulating at the axilla, elbow, and patients with haemochromatosis had had a
wrist. Bipolar electrodes of 8 mm diameter carrying history of significant alcohol intake. The patient
a square electrical pulse of 01 msec duration were with the most severe neuropathy had active
used for stimulation, and for recording surface chronic hepatitis, and is described in more detail
electrodes were placed over the extensor digitorum later.
brevis muscle in the foot, and the thenar and hypo- A comparison of those with and without
thenar muscles in the hand. Electromyograms were neuropathy revealed no significant differences in
obtained from a concentric needle electrode inserted the liver function tests except for changes in
into the first dorsal interosseous muscle in each hand,
and in the tibialis anterior and extensor digitorum serum immunoglobulins (Table 3). IgA and IgM
brevis muscle in each foot. The temperature of the were considerably higher in those with evidence
examination room was more than 65°F (18-3°C). of neuropathy and the elevation of IgM (to more
The electrodiagnostic investigations were carried out than twice the level in the patients without neuro-
without knowledge of the clinical findings. pathy) reached statistical significance (P <0 05).
Peripheral neuropathy was considered to be These alterations in immunoglobulin levels were
present if there was significant slowing of motor independent of the type of cirrhosis, and the
nerve conduction in one nerve (30 m/sec in the patients with neuropathy when considered to-
lateral popliteal nerves, and 40 in/sec in the median gether had higher mean IgA and IgM values than
or ulnar nerves). Spontaneous fibrillation and posi- those found in any individual disease group.
tive potentials in the electromyogram with the
muscle at rest, and a reduced interference pattern on Seven (50%0) of the 14 patients with neuro-
maximal voluntary effort were regarded as evidence pathy showed either oesophageal varices on
of denervation but were not considered diagnostic barium swallow examination or had had a
of a neuropathy unless slowing of motor nerve con- portacaval shunt, a significantly higher incidence
duction was also present. than in the patients with normal conduction,
27% of whom had varices (P < 0 05). There was
RESULTS also a similar correlation with a past history of
hepatic encephalopathy, seven (50%0) of the
Clinical signs of neuropathy were found in 13 patients with neuropathy having had previous
of the 70 patients, although only two complained episodes of encephalopathy as compared with
of paraesthesiae and weakness. The most com- five (9%0) of the 56 patients without neuropathy
mon abnormalities were impairment of vibration (P<0 001). No patient showed features of
sense in the legs-present in 13 patients-and hepatic encephalopathy at the time of the study.
impairment of superficial sensation in a 'glove
and stocking' distribution which was found in RELATION TO IMPAIRED CARBOHYDRATE TOLER-
seven patients. The ankle reflexes were absent ANCE Of the 14 patients with a peripheral
on both sides or obtainable only with reinforce- neuropathy, six were known to have diabetes.
ment in seven patients, in four of whom there The severity of the neuropathy bore no relation-
was also impairment or absence of knee jerks. ship to the duration of diabetes. In four patients
Motor weakness of the limbs (M.R.C. grade 4) diabetes had been diagnosed more than 10 years
was found in five patients. previously, whereas in the other two patients
Nine of these patients with clinical neuropathy with an equally severe neuropathy diabetes had
also showed electrodiagnostic evidence of neuro- been present for only six months. Both of these
pathy. In addition, there was one other patient patients had also had episodes of portosystemic
with significant changes in motor nerve con- encephalopathy, which may have contributed to
duction but without clinical evidence of neuro- their neuropathy. Of the 56 patients without
pathy, making a total of 14 patients in the series neuropathy four had diabetes, a significantly
with clinical and/or electrodiagnostic evidence lower incidence (P < 00 1).
of a peripheral neuropathy. The relevant clinical Sixteen of the patients who did not have
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TABLE 2 TABLE 4
INCIDENCE OF NEUROPATHY IN THE DIFFERENT GROUPS COMPARISON OF MEAN NERVE CONDUCTION VELOCITIES,
MOTOR LATENCIES, AND DURATION OF VIBRATION PERCEP-
Diagnosis Patients (tno.) NeuropathY TION IN 44 PATIENTS WITH NORMAL GLUCOSE TOLERANCE,
16 WITH MINOR ABNORMALITIES OF GLUCOSE TOLERANCE
Active chronic hepatitis 26 2
6 AND 10 WITH DEFINITE DIABETES
Alcoholic cirrhosis 13
Cryptogenic cirrhosis 12 3*
Primary biliary cirrhosis 12 0 Blood sugar at 2 hr Diabetes
Haemochromatosis 7 3
Nornmal Abnornmal
Total 70 14
NerLe Segnzent Nerve conduction velocity (m/sec)
* One of these patients had electrodiagnostic evidence of neuropathy Median Upper 62±1.5 55+1-4 51±49
only. Lower 52± 09 52 ± 2-0 49± 18
Ulnar Upper 58± 18 60± 15 50±2-2
TABLE 3 Lower 55±1.5 53±1-8 47±2-6
Lateral Left 44± 1-3 45±2 7 40±2-8
COMPARISON OF CLINtCAL FEATURES, BIOCHEMICAL AND popliteal Right 43± 1-0 44±2 8 39±2-1
HAEMATOLOGICAL FINDINGS IN PATIENTS WITH (14) AND Ner-e Point of Mean latencies (ni/sec.)
WITHOUT (56) EVIDENCE OF A PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY stimulation
.X.
- - -.- .....
'I-
FIG. 1 a. Consecutive lengths of a teased nerve fibre FIG. lb. Similar to Ja. In addition, there are some
showing many short, thin, re-myelinated internodes denuded areas due to the presence of active Schwann
formed after extensive segmental demyelination (from cell-myelin damage (from case 3, Table 1).
case 17, Table 1).
o.. .:,,- r. N a _
_0 *_ k
4~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~r
.1
.siO
.'D,0 i - I
FIG. 2. Graphical analysis of sural nerve from cases 1, 2, 4, and 5 (Table 1). Each vertical line represents
one fibre; the wide scatter of internodal lengths is due to segmental demyelination and remyelination. Shaded
area encloses mean and 95%0 confidence limits (Thomas and Lascelles, 1966).
gave a history suggestive of infective hepatitis geal varices were not detected; serum B12 and
with apparently complete recovery at the age of folate levels as well as a pyruvate tolerance curve
38 years. Liver function tests and liver biopsy were all normal.
appearances were consistent with a diagnosis of Sural nerve biopsy showed a severe degree of
active chronic hepatitis. On examination there active demyelination with some healed lesions
were absent leg reflexes, marked wasting, and and also some evidence of fibre loss. Conduction
greatly impaired vibration and position sense in velocities and the electromyogram were grossly
both arms and legs, with marked impairment of abnormal (Table 5). The patient's symptoms of
superficial sensation below the knees. Oesopha- neuropathy improved with azathioprine but,
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because of nausea, treatment was later changed with a severe neuropathy and collateral shunting
to prednisone (20 mg/day). Conduction veloci- who had only recently developed diabetes are a
ties improved further and after one year of treat- good illustration of this. Collateral shunting
ment the knee reflex had returned and after a allows toxic factors, normally produced in the
further six months, the ankle reflex also. Liver colon and detoxicated by the liver, access to
function tests improved during this period but both central and peripheral nervous tissue
the glucose tolerance tests became increasingly (Victor, Adams, and Cole, 1965; Cavanagh and
abnormal, probably as a result of prednisone Kyu, 1969). Not surprisingly this correlates with
therapy. periods of encephalopathy and this aetiological
relationship is further supported by the improve-
DISCUSSION
ment in conduction velocities seen in case 1
during protein restriction.
The present study confirms the earlier findings of In one series of cirrhotic patients from Great
Dayan and Williams (1967) in showing the fre- Britain, diabetes was present in 32% and ab-
quent presence of segmental demyelination in normal glucose tolerance was found in a further
patients with liver disease-indeed, it was 25% of patients (Megyesi, Samols, and Marks,
present in every sural nerve biopsy examined. 1967). The impairment of glucose tolerance is
Clinical signs of a neuropathy were less fre- associated with relative hyperinsulinism but the
quent-19%0 of the patients in the present series. exact cause is unknown. Although in our
Ortiz V'asquez, Olmo, Muro, Villamol, and patients there was a higher incidence of neuro-
Barreiro, 1967 have also reported clinically pathy in those with clinical diabetes than in
evident neuropathy in hepatic failure but many those without, there was no correlation between
of their patients were alcoholics and no informa- neuropathy and minor abnormalities of glucose
tion is given as to the presence of diabetes. tolerance. This finding is in agreement with the
Malkova (1967) found 11 patients with a recent study of Seneviratne and Peiris (1970)
peripheral neuropathy among 242 patients with who showed that electrodiagnostic evidence of
liver or gall-bladder disease in Moscow. No neuropathy was common in a group of patients
patient had a significant alcohol intake and all with chronic liver disease selected because of a
those with a neuropathy had spider naevi and normal glucose tolerance test.
purpura; seven had hypergammaglobulinaemia. Advancing age is itself associated with clinical
The only case reported in detail had a painful (Mayne, 1965) and pathological evidence (Las-
peripheral neuropathy in one arm and later in celles and Thomas, 1966) of damage to peri-
one leg with an isolated blood sugar of 122 mg/ pheral nerves for reasons which are not known.
100 ml. It is possible that this was diabetic In the present series 13 of the 18 patients with
mononeuritis, a type of neuropathy we have not neuropathy were less than 60 years old, the age
yet seen in liver disease. beyond which 'physiological' nerve damage
The occurrence of peripheral neuropathy in becomes apparent clinically. Furthermore, the
the present group of patients could be only severity of the clinical signs and the extent of the
partly accounted for by known causes such as nerve lesions in some of the older patients were
alcoholism and diabetes. Furthermore, the greater than could be due to ageing alone
histological abnormalities in the patients with (Arnold and Harriman, 1970).
either diabetes or alcoholism were similar to There was no relationship between the occur-
those seen in the patients in whom these factors rence of neuropathy and the duration of liver
could not be incriminated. Neither the small- disease, or the changes in liver function tests.
vessel disease frequently seen in the nerves in The high IgA and IgM levels are of interest but
diabetes nor the axonal degeneration of alcohol- the association may simply indicate that neuro-
ism was prominent. Indeed, the similarity of the pathy is related to an 'active' stage of cirrhosis
histological picture in all 14 patients examined as illustrated by case 2. In this patient the
suggests that another factor common to all neuropathy improved on corticosteroid treat-
patients was the main cause of the neuropathy. ment simultaneously with improvement in the
The importance of collateral shunting was biochemical changes of active chronic hepatitis.
clearly shown and even in the cirrhotic patients Other organs including skin, lungs, and colon
with diabetes and in the alcoholics this may be are not infrequently involved in this condition,
the more important factor. The two patients such multi-system involvement implying an
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'abnormal immune system' in this patient. The Fullerton, P. M., Gilliatt, R. W., Lascelles, R. G., and
Morgan-Hughes, J. A. (1965). The relation between fibre
findings in case 2 would suggest that the diameter and internodal length in chronic neuropathy.
peripheral nerves can be added to the list of Journal of Physiology, 178, 26-28P.
organs sometimes involved in this disease. Gilliatt, R. W. (1969). Experimental peripheral neuropathy.
In Scientific Basis of Medicine Annual Reviews 1969, pp.
Alternatively, the immunoglobulin abnormalities 202-219. British Postgraduate Medical Federation.
may be more directly related to the cause of the Athlone Press: London.
nerve damage, for neuropathy is found in Lascelles, R. G., and Thomas, P. K. (1966). Changes due to
age in internodal length in the sural nerve in man. Journal
patients with various types of paraproteinaemias of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 29, 40-44.
(Logothetis, Kennedy, Ellington, and Williams, Logothetis, J., Kennedy, W. R., Ellington, A., and Williams,
R. C. (1968). Cryoglobulinemic neuropathy. Incidence
1968) and is common in patients with myeloma and clinical characteristics. Archives of Neurology, 19,
(Morley and Schwieger, 1968). Unfortunately, 389-397.
the histological appearances themselves give no Malkova, E. V. (1967). Syndrome of multiple neuritis in
diseases of the liver. Zhurnal Nevropatologii i Psikhiat ri
clue to the aetiology of the neuropathy in our imeni S.S. Korsakova, 67, 1189-1193.
patients, although they do suggest that the final Mayne, N. (1965). Neuropathy in the diabetic and non-
common path is Schwann cell damage. diabetic populations. Lancet, 2, 1313-1316.
Megyesi, C., Samols, E., and Marks, V. (1967). Glucose
tolerance and diabetes in chronic liver disease. Lancet, 2,
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Peripheral neuropathy in
chronic liver disease: clinical,
electrodiagnostic, and nerve
biopsy findings
R. P. Knill-Jones, C. J. Goodwill, A. D. Dayan and
Roger Williams
These include:
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Notes