Abstract
We report a patient who developed subacute facial-predominant numbness and anhidrosis, oral incoordination, and esophageal achalasia with resultant cachexia. Great auricular nerve biopsy showed extensive epineurial perivascular inflammatory infiltrates. Sensation, sweating, and swallowing improved with pulse intravenous methylprednisolone given over 5 years. We suggest that the patient's deficits, including achalasia, were due to an immune-mediated sensory and autonomic neuropathy and that, in such cases, pathologic studies of the great auricular nerve may be diagnostically informative.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 289-293 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Muscle and Nerve |
Volume | 43 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 2011 |
Keywords
- Dysphagia
- Esophageal achalasia
- Immune sensory neuropathy
- Sensory ganglionopathy
- Trigeminal neuropathy
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physiology
- Clinical Neurology
- Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
- Physiology (medical)