[Clinical and long-term characteristics of the subtypes of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy]

To clarify the clinical and long-term characteristic of each subtype of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP).

We evaluated data from 30 consecutive CIDP patients who met the criteria proposed by the European Federation of Neurological Societies and the Peripheral Nerve Society.

Patients were classified as having typical CIDP (t-‍CIDP) (10/30, 33%), multifocal acquired demyelinating sensory and motor (MADSAM) (12/30, 40%), DADS (4/30, 13%), sensory CIDP (3/30, 10%) or motor CIDP (1/30, 3%). Nerve conduction studies showed more prolonged distal motor latencies/F-wave latencies and slower motor nerve conduction in the typical CIDP group than in the MADSAM group. Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) was effective in 80% (8/10) of t-‍CIDP, 100% (12/12) of MADSAM, 100% (4/4) of DADS, and 100% (3/3) of sensory CIDP cases. Maintenance therapy with immunoglobulin was administered in patients with t-‍CIDP (5/10, 50%), MADSAM (9/12, 75%), DADS (1/4, 25%), and sensory CIDP (2/3, 67%). There were no patients with CIDP, in whom CIDP subtype was transformed from the initial diagnosis during five years of follow-up.

Percentage of MADSAM was the most common phenotype in our cohort of CIDP patients, and IVIg/immunoglobulin maintenance was effective for MADSAM as well as t-‍CIDP in contrast to findings from the previous reports.