Primary polyarteritis nodosa presenting as acute symmetric quadriplegia

We report a case of peripheral neuropathy presenting as acute symmetric areflexic quadriplegia in the setting of a well-defined clinical, histopathologic, and angiographic diagnosis of classic polyarteritis nodosa. While it is usually easy to recognize the typical clinical presentation of necrotizing angiopathy-induced peripheral neuropathy as a mononeuritis multiplex or a distal polyneuropathy in association with a collagen vascular disease, clinicians must be equally sensitive to a number of more challenging possibilities. Acute quadriplegia similar to that seen in Guillain-Barré syndrome can be secondary to primary classic polyarteritis nodosa and the former may be the chief or even the sole manifestation of the latter.