[Neurological disorders and perhexiline maleate therapy. Clinical study of 10 cases. Neuropathological, pharmacocinetic and biochemical studies (author's transl)].
Ten new cases of perhexiline induced peripheral neuropathies are reported. The authors emphasize the possible association of other neurological disorders: cerebellar symptoms in one case, complex tremor in two other cases, marked decrease of photomotor reflexes in one case and disgeusia in another one. The pharmacocinetic study of 4 cases revealed the presence of a low metabolism of the drug in one of them. Polymorphous inclusions have been seen in Schwann cell and endothelial cell cytoplasm in the three patients with electron microscopic study of the nerves. The pathological study of one case showed the demyelination of spinal cord posterior columns. In another case, who died from hepatic coma, the biochemical study of cerebral lipids revealed the low values of cerebrosides and sulfatides in cerebellum and cerebral white matter.