Acute pandysautonomia and severe sensory deficit with poor recovery. A clinical, neurophysiological and pathological case study.

A patient with acute loss of autonomic functions and virtually all afferent functions of peripheral nerves is described. The course was chronic and the outcome fatal. The clinical course was followed with measurements of sensory thresholds and conduction velocities, autonomic tests and microneurographic recordings. Neuropathological changes were severe and localised in the peripheral nervous system. Previously reported similar cases were reviewed. It was concluded that acute pandysautonomia is a disorder similar to the Guillain-Barré syndrome; the course is often protracted and residual neurological deficit common.