Peripheral neurological symptoms associated with Crohn's disease

In medical literature peripheral neurological disorders a re associated wit h Crohn's disease only in particular cases. We report on two patients who s uffering from Crohn's disease developed an acute Guillain-Barre syndrom or a polyneuropathy associated with myositis. Two weeks after a 65-year old fe male patient developed a serious Guillain-Barre syndrom, a haemorrhagical C rohn's colitis was diagnosed. Within a few weeks the specific therapy led t o a satisfying recovery. A 45-year old female had suffered from Crohn's dis ease since 12 years. Within 8 weeks she developed a serious sensorimotor mi xed axonal and demyelinating neuropathy and a granulomatous myositis. After treatment with steroids her signs constantly decreased. These observations as well as a literature review show that polyneuropathy and Guillain-Barre syndrom can be associated with chronic inflammatory bowel diseases. Our re sults suggest that peripheral neurological signs could be regarded as a pos sible extraintestinal manifestation of inflammatory bowel dis ease.