[Sensorimotor polyneuropathy induced by almitrine dimesylate. Anatomo-clinical study of a case]

A 65-year-old male patient with chronic obstructive long disease developed a severe motor and sensory polyneuropathy during the treatment with almitrine bismesylate (Vectarion). Electrophysiological and neuropathological investigations demonstrated a distal axonopathy. A medicamentous origin was suspected since other causal factors were lacking. Eight months after stopping of treatment, the functional recovery was complete. The authors discuss the recent data recorded in the literature concerning the neurological complications induced by this new drug, which is increasingly administered in diseases of the respiratory tract.