Subacute painful lumbosacral polyradiculoneuropathy in immunocompromised patients

The syndrome of inflammatory subacute lumbosacral polyradiculoneuropathy (S LP) has been reported in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients in association with cytomegalovirus infection and is only partially amenab le to anti-viral therapy. We report three cases of relatively benign inflam matory painful SLP in two non-AIDS, immunosuppressed patients and one who H IV-seroconversed at the time of clinical presentation. SLP developed: (1) i n association with HIV seroconversion; (2) during ECHO virus infection in a patient with common variable immune deficiency; and (3) after a severe sys temic infection that induced transient immunosuppression due to Epstein-Bar r virus reactivation. This report expands the spectrum of viruses associate d with acute and subacute lumbosacral polyradiculoneuropathy and may shed l ight on its possible pathogenesis. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All right s reserved.