Ocular palsy preceding chronic relapsing polyneuropathy by several weeks

Three patients exhibited an unusual variant of chronic relapsing polyneuritis in which extraocular muscle palsies developed 19 days, 20 days, and 3 1/2 months, respectively, before the neuropathy affected the limbs. The peripheral neuropathy evolved over 7 to 12 weeks, lasted 15 months to 13 years, and relapsed in every case. Each patient had dysphagia, areflexia, sensory loss, and weakness of all four limbs, which in two was asymmetrical. Slowed motor nerve conduction and prolonged F wave latencies were present, and the cerebrospinal fluid protein level was elevated without increased cell count. No patient recovered fully despite treatment with immunosuppressant drugs.