Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T08:19:19.784Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Eighth nerve alcoholic neuropathy: A case report with light and electron microscopic findings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2007

Jukka S. Ylikoski ,
John W. House  and
Ibrahim Hernandez
Jukka S. Ylikoski
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Department of Otolaryngology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
John W. House
Affiliation:
Otologic Medical Group, Inc., Los Angeles, California.
Ibrahim Hernandez
Affiliation:
Otologic Medical Group, Inc., Los Angeles, California.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A 55-year-old man with symptoms of hearing loss, balance disturbance, and facial weakness was treated by translabyrinthine eighth cranial nerve trans-section. The patient also had a history and physical signs of chronic alcoholism and peripheral polyneuropathy. Results of laboratory tests revealed concomitant nutritional deficiency. Histopathological examination of the eighth nerve showed extensive degeneration of both myelinated and unmyelinated nerve fibers in both cochlear and vestibular divisions. Light and electron microscopic features of the degenerative process were compatible with previously described pathology of experimentally induced Wallerian-like degeneration. Alcoholic neuropathy as the cause of hearing loss and balance disturbance—and probably facial paresis—is suggested.

Type
Clinical records
Information
The Journal of Laryngology & Otology , Volume 95 , Issue 6 , June 1981 , pp. 631 - 642
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bischoff, A. (1971) Die alkoholische Polyneuropathie. Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift (Stuttgart), 8, 317–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, R. D., and Wisniewski, H. M. (1973) The role of oligodendroglia and astroglia in Wallerian degeneration of the optic nerve. Brain Research, 61, 191–206.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dejerine, J. (1887) Contribution a l'étude de la nevrite alcoolique. Archives de Physiologie Normale et Pathologique, 10, 248–264.Google Scholar
Dublin, W. (1951) Neurologic lesions of erythroblastosis fetalis in relation to unclear deafness. American Journal of Clinical Pathology, 21, 935–939.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fee, G. A. (1968) Traumatic perilymph fistulas. Archives of Otolaryngology, 88, 477–480.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fennely, J. O., Frank, H., and Baker, C. M. (1964) Peripheral neuropathy of the alcoholic. I. Aetiological role of aneurin and other B-complex vitamins. British Medical Journal, 2, 1290–1292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
v. Fieandt, H., and Saxén, A. (1937) Pathologie und klinik der Altersschwerhörigkeit. Acta Oto-laryngologica Supplement (Stockholm), 23.Google Scholar
Gerrand, J. (1952) Nuclear jaundice and deafness. Journal of Laryngology and Otology, 66, 39–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goulon, M. F., and Liot, F. (1955) Polynevrites alcooliques. France Medicalé, 18, 31–36.Google Scholar
Healy, G. B., Strong, M. S., and Sampogna, D. (1974) Ataxia, vertigo, and hearing loss: A result of rupture of inner ear window. Archives of Otolaryngology, 100, 130–135.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hornabrook, R. W. (1961) Alcoholic neuropathy. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 9, 398–403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Igarashi, M., Neely, J. G., Anthony, P. F., et al. (1976) Cochlear nerve degeneration coincident with adrenocerebroleucodystrophy. Archives of Otolaryngology, 102, 722–726.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ischii, T., and Toriyama, M. (1978) Sudden deafness with severe loss of cochlear neurons. Transactions American Otological Society, 65, 154–160.Google Scholar
Lassmann, H., Ammerer, H. P., and Kulnig, W. (1978) Ultrastructural sequence of myelin degradation. I. Wallerian degeneration in the rat optic nerve. Acta Neuropathologica (Berlin), 44, 91–102.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lindsay, J. R. (1973) Inner ear pathology. Annals of Otology, Rhinology and Laryngology, 82, Supplement5.Google ScholarPubMed
Luse, S. A., and McCaman, R. E. (1957) Electron microscopy and biochemistry of Wallerian degeneration in the optic and tibial nerve. American Journal of Pathology, 33, 586A.Google Scholar
Nielsen, J. M. (1957) ‘Alcoholic’ motor polyneuritis. Bulletin of the Los Angeles Neurological Societies, 22, 69–72.Google ScholarPubMed
Novak, D. J., and Victor, M. (1974) The vagus and sympathetic nerves in alcoholic polyneuropathy Archives Neurology, 30, 273–284.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oppenheim, H. (1905) Die multiple Neuritis. In Lehrbuch der Nervenkrankheiten. 4 Augl Basel, Berlin, p. 523.Google Scholar
Schuknecht, H. F. (1964) Further observations on the pathology of presbyacusis. Archives of Otolaryngology, 80, 369–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spoendlin, H. (1974) Optic and cochleovestibular degenerations in hereditary ataxias. Brain, 97, 41&ndash18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tredici, G., and Minnazzi, M. (1975) Alcoholic neuropathy; An electron microscopic study. Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 25, 333–346.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vaugn, J. E., and Peters, A. (1968) A third neuroglial cell type. An electron microscopic study. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 133, 269–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Victor, M. (1958) Alcohol and nutritional diseases of the nervous system. Journal ofthe American Medical Association, 167, 65–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Victor, M., and Adams, R. D. (1961) On the etiology of the alcoholic neurologic diseases. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 9, 379–397.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walsh, J. C., and McLeod, J. G. (1957) Alcoholic neuropathy. An electrophysiologicai and histological study. Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 10, 457–469.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ylikoski, J., Collan, Y., and Palva, T. (1979) Menière's disease: Morphological findings in eighth nerve and vestibular end organs. ORL, 41, 26–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ylikoski, J., Palva, T., and House, W. F. (1981) Vestibular nerve findings in 150 neurectomized patients. Acta Otolaryngologica (Stockholm), 212.Google ScholarPubMed