Ethylene oxide-induced polyneuropathy. A clinical and electrophysiologic study.

Occupational exposure to ethylene oxide (ETO) was manifested as a subacute polyneuropathy, with bilateral footdrop and denervation potentials on electromyography as the principal abnormalities in three young adults whom we examined. To our knowledge, this is the second report of neurotoxic effects caused by long-term ETO exposure in humans and brings the number of patients described with symptomatic polyneuropathy to five.