Article Text

Download PDFPDF
An unusual case of 'itchy paralysis’: neuromyelitis optica presenting with severe neuropathic itch
  1. Sizheng Zhao1,
  2. Kerry Mutch1,
  3. Liene Elsone1,
  4. James Miller2,
  5. Anu Jacob1
  1. 1NMO Clinical Service, The Walton Centre, Liverpool, UK
  2. 2Department of neurology, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Sizheng Zhao, NMO Clinical Service, The Walton Centre, Liverpool L9 7LJ, UK; s.zhao8{at}liv.ac.uk

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

Background

Pruritus, better known as itch, is ‘an unpleasant cutaneous sensation provoking the desire to scratch’.1 It is typically caused by pruritogens that activate nerve endings in cutaneous and transitional tissues (eg, conjunctivae, anal mucosa) and serves a protective function against noxious stimuli.

Itch can also occur with diseased or malfunctioning pruritogenic neurones in the absence of a pruritogen—a symptom termed neuropathic pruritus or neuropathic itch.2 Neuropathic pruritus is a well described but under-recognised symptom of neurological disorders. The site of involvement may be (i) peripheral nerve and root, (ii) spinal cord or (iii) brain. It may accompany a variety of peripheral and central neurological disorders, including postherpetic neuralgia, peripheral neuropathy, trigeminal neuralgia, traumatic nerve injury, complex regional pain syndrome, multiple sclerosis and stroke.3

Neuromyelitis optica is a relapsing inflammatory astrocytopathic disorder affecting predominantly the optic nerves and spinal cord. It is associated with antiaquaporin-4 immunoglobulin G (AQP4-IgG) in up to 70% of patients. Spinal cord involvement typically presents as a longitudinally-extensive transverse myelitis with associated sensorimotor and sphincter dysfunction. Sensory symptoms such as numbness, dysaesthesia, pain and tonic spasms are common.4 This report highlights neuropathic pruritus as an under-recognised feature of neuromyelitis optica.

Case presentation

A 45-year-old woman with no previous medical history presented with a 4-day history of unexplained nausea, vomiting, hiccup and vertigo. On the fourth day, she developed bilateral forearm itching. Over the following 3 days, she developed rapidly progressive weakness from the chest down, ultimately resulting in complete paraplegia, sensory loss and loss of both bladder and bowel function. She also developed weakness in both arms, worse on the left side.

She was admitted 3 days after the onset of her nausea and vomiting, which subsided a day later. However, the itching …

View Full Text

Footnotes

  • Contributors SZ wrote the manuscript and phone-interviewed the patient. LE and KM interviewed the patient and collected most of the information. JM and AJ have overall care of the patient and contributed most of the past medical history and care-episodes.

  • Competing interests None.

  • Patient consent Obtained.

  • Ethics approval Ethical approval was obtained as part of the NMO UK study.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed. This paper was reviewed by Neil Scolding, Bristol, UK.

Linked Articles

  • Editors' commentary
    Phil Smith Geraint N Fuller

Other content recommended for you