Spectrum of peripheral neuropathy in eastern India

Peripheral neuropathies constitute an important group of disorders in neurological practice. Very few systematic studies on peripheral neuropathies are available from India. Hence we conducted a prospective study in two large hospitals from Kolkata, the biggest city of eastern India in order to find out the spectrum of peripheral neuropathy. This prospective study was carried out from June 1998 to January 2003 on admitted patients with symptoms and signs of peripheral neuropathy. Two hundred and twenty-five patients were evaluated (one hundred and twenty-five from an industrial hospital and one hundred from an academic tertiary care institution at Kolkata). Result showed that most of the cases of peripheral neuropathy belonged to fourth decade with men dominance. Common varieties of neuropathy were Guillain-Barré syndrome, diabetes mellitus, hereditary motor sensory neuropathy, chronic inflammatory demyelinating neuropathy, drugs and toxin related. Unusual varieties were Isaacs's syndrome and X-linked hereditary motor-sensory neuropathy. One case of neuropathy due to Plasmodium vivax has received intravenous immunoglobulin therapy. The type of peripheral neuropathy in hospital-based patients in eastern India was similar to other parts of country excepting some sporadic types due to infective or genetic causes and a large number of cases of undetermined aetiology exist despite detailed investigations.