melphalan and Pulmonary-Edema

The clinical course and biopsy and autopsy findings in a patient with asymmetrical polyneuropathy in Waldenström's disease are reported. Under steroid therapy the patient developed mild diabetes mellitus. In the light of the course of the disease, a causal relationship between the hematologic disease and the peripheral neuropathy is assumed. Although a peripheral nerve could not be examined on autopsy, strong lymphocytic infiltration in the autonomic nerves seems to point to a similar pathogenetic mechanism in the development of polyneuropathy. The other possible causal factors are discussed with reference to the small number of reports in the literature.

Topics: Autonomic Nervous System; Humans; Hypesthesia; Immunoglobulin M; Lymphocytes; Male; Melphalan; Middle Aged; Myocardium; Neurologic Manifestations; Paralysis; Pulmonary Edema; Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia