REMISSION OF SEVERE ALCOHOLIC POLYNEUROPATHY AFTER LIVER-TRANSPLANTATION

Alcoholic polyneuropathy presents with variable severity. Only few Ver y severely disabled patients showed good clinical and electrophysiolog ical improvement after cessation of alcohol abuse. We report a 55 year old patient with polyneuropathy who underwent orthotopic liver transp lantation for decompensated alcoholic cirrhosis. After an initial post operative exacerbation of her neurological disorder the patient develo ped an impressive remission of her clinical condition during the 4 yea r post transplantation follow up period. Nine months after surgery the initially wheel chair bound patient regained the ability to walk on h er own. The previously severely impaired sensory modalities returned t o nearly normal function. Electrophysiological findings also improved. The right tibial nerve conduction velocity increased from 16.8 to 26. 7 m/s between the 27th and 37th post transplantation month. We postula te that liver transplantation facilitated the remission of this patien t's alcohol-induced polyneuropathy. This observation suggests that alc oholic polyneuropathy, even when severe, should not be considered a co ntraindication for liver transplantation.