Relapsing ischemic encephaloenteropathy and cryoglobulinemia

Cryoglobulinemia is a rare cause of encephalopathy. The authors report thre e patients with strikingly similar clinical features of recurrent encephalo pathy accompanied by symptoms of gastrointestinal ischemia. In only one pat ient was cryoglobulinemia ascertained in life during the final illness. The autopsy examinations all showed diffuse cerebral, enteral, and systemic sm all vessel lesions immunoreactive for immunoglobulins and typical of mixed essential cryoglobulinemia. This unusual relapsing clinical syndrome is rea dily misinterpreted as of nonorganic origin despite its potentially fatal p rognosis.