Involvement of dorsal root ganglia in Fabry's disease.

Bouts of shooting pain along the extremities are common in the early stages of Fabry's disease. No pathological explanation has been advanced to clarify the mechanism of such pain. In the present case neuronal storage of glycolipid was confined to dorsal root ganglia neurones only. It is suggested that this may explain the shooting pain in Fabry's disease. In hereditary sensory radicular neuropathy, familial dysautonomia, and tabes dorsalis, changes in dorsal root ganglia cells cause similar clinical signs and thus it may be concluded that shooting pains in Fabry's disease may be caused by damage to dorsal root ganglia neurones.