Lumbar stenosis syndrome due to hypertrophy of nerve roots in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy: A case report and literature review

Abstract

Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) is an acquired, immune-mediated neuropathy, characterized by a relapsing-remitting or progressive course. CIDP patients may manifest lower back and leg pain or intermittent claudication mimicking a lumbar stenosis syndrome. We report here one case of CIDP patients with manifestations of the lumbar stenosis syndrome from our database and summarize similar cases previously preported. We found there may be obvious mismatches between clinical symptoms and electrophysiological studies/neuroimaging in CIDP patents. For refractory CIDP patients with a long course of disease, regular imaging may be necessary to monitor the dynamic changes of nerve roots. Decompressive operation may also be an option for CIDP patients with thickening of nerve roots that has caused lumbar stenosis syndrome.