Polyneuropathy and benign monoclonal gammopathy

Recently the rather frequent occurrence of benign monoclonal gammopathy (BMG) has been reported in peripheral neuropathy. Sometimes this syndrome is part of a multisystemic disorder in which organomegaly, endocrine disturbances, skin changes and focal bone lesions may also occur. The clinical picture and the cerebro-spinal fluid findings resemble the chronic relapsing Guillain-Barré syndrome. The polyneuropathy seems to be of the primarily demyelinating type. The pathogenetic relationship with the gammopathy is as yet not clear, but treatment of the plasma cell dyscrasia has a favourable effect on the polyneuropathy. We report our experiences with 5 patients with polyneuropathy and BMG and compare our clinical, laboratory and histological data with the literature.