Neurologic complications of acute and chronic renal disease.

There is an increasing incidence and prevalence of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in Western industrialized countries and currently is estimated at approximately 10% of adults aged over 20 years. Renal failure causes an excessively increased risk of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular complications. Moreover, renal failure leads to a number of the neurologic symptoms neurologists are often confronted with.

Vasculitic multiplex mononeuritis: polyarteritis nodosa versus cryoglobulinemic vasculitis.

A 76-year-old female patient presented with a progressive motor-sensory multiplex mononeuritis (MM). Combined muscle and nerve biopsy showed the typical findings of a polyarteritis nodosa (PAN). Despite treatment with corticosteroids paresthesias increased and purpura of the legs newly appeared.

Wegener's granulomatosis in the thyroid mimicking a tumour.

Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) is a systemic vasculitis characterised by the presence of necrotizing granulomas and classically manifests as a triad of upper and lower respiratory tract involvement along with glomerulonephritis. Other rather unusual presentations of WG include ocular, salivary gland, cutaneous, gastrointestinal and cardiac involvement. We report a case in a 51-year-old woman suffering from WG with positive antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies and antibodies directed against proteinase 3.