Vasculitic neuropathy

Abstract

Vasculitis is a common and treatable cause of neuropathy. In most cases, necrotizing arteritis of the type observed in polyarteritis nodosa is responsible for the lesions, but classification of vasculitis is still uncertain. The neuropathy often occurs in the context of a multisystem disorder, but in a substantial proportion of patients, especially among patients seen by neurologists, the neuropathy is the first and only manifestation of vasculitis. In such cases, the diagnosis can only be reached by performance of a nerve and muscle biopsy. Ischaemic nerve lesions can also result from secondary vasculitis in a number of inflammatory, infectious and immune-mediated disorders of the peripheral nervous system.