Treatment for cryoglobulinemic and non-cryoglobulinemic peripheral neuropathy associated with hepatitis C virus infection

Infectious Neuropathies

OBJECTIVE

This article discusses the clinical manifestations and management of infectious peripheral neuropathies.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

Several infectious etiologies of peripheral neuropathy are well-recognized and their treatments are firmly established. The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is associated with several central and peripheral nervous system manifestations, including peripheral neuropathies. Additionally, some COVID-19 vaccines have been associated with Guillain-Barré syndrome. These disorders are an active area of surveillance and research. Recent evidence-based guidelines have provided updated recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease.

ESSENTIAL POINTS

Infectious agents of many types (primarily bacteria and viruses) can affect the peripheral nerves, resulting in various clinical syndromes such as mononeuropathy or mononeuropathy multiplex, distal symmetric polyneuropathy, radiculopathy, inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy, and motor neuronopathy. Knowledge of these infections and the spectrum of peripheral nervous system disorders associated with them is essential because many have curative treatments. Furthermore, understanding the neuropathic presentations of these disorders may assist in diagnosing the underlying infection.

Management of mixed cryoglobulinemia with rituximab: evidence and consensus-based recommendations from the Italian Study Group of Cryoglobulinemia (GISC)

Cryoglobulinemic vasculitis (CV) or mixed cryoglobulinemic syndrome (MCS) is a systemic small-vessel vasculitis characterized by the proliferation of B-cell clones producing pathogenic immune complexes, called cryoglobulins. It is often secondary to hepatitis C virus (HCV), autoimmune diseases, and hematological malignancies. CV usually has a mild benign clinical course, but severe organ damage and life-threatening manifestations can occur. Recently, evidence in favor of rituximab (RTX), an anti-CD 20 monoclonal antibody, is emerging in CV: nevertheless, questions upon the safety of this therapeutic approach, especially in HCV patients, are still being issued and universally accepted recommendations that can help physicians in MCS treatment are lacking. A Consensus Committee provided a prioritized list of research questions to perform a systematic literature review (SLR). A search was made in Medline, Embase, and Cochrane library, updated to August 2021. Of 1227 article abstracts evaluated, 27 studies were included in the SLR, of which one SLR, 4 RCTs, and 22 observational studies. Seventeen recommendations for the management of mixed cryoglobulinemia with rituximab from the Italian Study Group of Cryoglobulinemia (GISC) were developed to give a valuable tool to the physician approaching RTX treatment in CV.

Immune Axonal Neuropathies Associated With Systemic Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases

Immune axonal neuropathies are a particular group of immune-mediated neuropathies that occasionally accompany systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases such as connective tissue dissorders and primary systemic vasculitides. Apart from vasculitis of vasa nervorum, various other mechanisms are involved in their pathogenesis, with possible therapeutic implications. Immune axonal neuropathies have highly heterogeneous clinical presentation and course, ranging from mild chronic distal sensorimotor polyneuropathy to severe subacute mononeuritis multiplex with rapid progression and constitutional symptoms such as fever, malaise, weight loss and night sweats, underpinning a vasculitic process. Sensory neuronopathy (ganglionopathy), small fiber neuropathy (sensory and/or autonomic), axonal variants of Guillain-Barré syndrome and cranial neuropathies have also been reported. In contrast to demyelinating neuropathies, immune axonal neuropathies show absent or reduced nerve amplitudes with normal latencies and conduction velocities on nerve conduction studies. Diagnosis and initiation of treatment are often delayed, leading to accumulating disability. Considering the lack of validated diagnostic criteria and evidence-based treatment protocols for immune axonal neuropathies, this review offers a comprehensive perspective on etiopathogenesis, clinical and paraclinical findings as well as therapy guidance for assisting the clinician in approaching these patients. High quality clinical research is required in order to provide indications and follow up rules for treatment in immune axonal neuropathies related to systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases.

Severe Guillain-Barré syndrome associated with chronic active hepatitis C and mixed cryoglobulinemia: a case report

Background

We describe a case of severe Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) associated with chronic active hepatitis C and mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC). To our knowledge, this association between GBS and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has been rarely reported.

Case presentation

A 56-year-old man developed symmetrical muscle weakness in all extremities, areflexia and sensorial disorder followed by acute respiratory failure associated with chronic active hepatitis C, which was confirmed by the presence of anti-HCV antibodies in the serum and persistence of HCV RNA viral load for more than 6 months. Chronic hepatitis C was further complicated by type 3 MC. Electromyography showed peripheral nerve injury (mainly in axon). A severe acute motor sensory axonal neuropathy (AMSAN) was diagnosed. After treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin and plasma exchange followed by antiviral therapy by direct-acting antiviral agent, patient showed progressive recovery and was transferred 3 months after his first admission to a rehabilitation center.

Conclusions

Our case reported a severe GBS associated with HCV infection and MC. EMG classified for the first time the subtype of GBS (severe AMSAN) correlated with severe clinical form. HCV infection should be screened in high-risk patients to prevent silent progression of the chronic hepatitis C and its potentially severe extra-hepatic manifestations.

Management of Neurologic Manifestations in Patients with Liver Disease

OPINION STATEMENT

Liver disease, both in its acute and chronic forms, can be associated with a wide spectrum of neurologic manifestations, both central and peripheral, ranging in severity from subclinical changes to neurocritical conditions. Neurologists are frequently consulted to participate in their management. In this review, we present an overview of management strategies for patients with hepatic disease whose clinical course is complicated by neurologic manifestations. Type A hepatic encephalopathy (HE), which occurs in acute liver failure, is a neurologic emergency, and multiple measures should be taken to prevent and treat cerebral edema. In Type C HE, which occurs in chronic liver disease, management should be aimed at correcting precipitant factors and hyperammonemia. There is an increasing spectrum of drug treatments available to minimize ammonia toxicity. Acquired hepatocerebral degeneration is a rare complication of the chronic form of HE, with typical clinical and brain MRI findings, whose most effective treatment is liver transplantation. Epilepsy is frequent and of multifactorial cause in patients with hepatic disease, and careful considerations should be made regarding choice of the appropriate anti-epileptic drugs. Several mechanisms increase the risk of stroke in hepatic disease, but many of the drugs used to treat and prevent stroke are contraindicated in severe hepatic failure. Hepatitis C infection increases the risk of ischemic stroke. Hemorrhagic stroke is more frequent in patients with liver disease of alcoholic etiology. Viral hepatitis is associated with a wide range of immune-mediated complications, mostly in the peripheral nervous system, which respond to different types of immunomodulatory treatment. Several drugs used to treat hepatic disease, such as the classical and the new direct-acting antivirals, may have neurologic complications which in some cases preclude its continued use.