Effects of Renal Transplantation on Uremic Neuropathy

Abstract

In three of 10 patients with uremic neuropathy improvement began two months after successful renal transplantation, and functional recovery was complete in a year, although residual clinical signs and electrophysiologic abnormalities remained. Of two patients with moderately severe polyneuropathy, one recovered in eight months, but an older patient had only partial recovery after a year. The remaining five cases were subclinical; in three of these, nerve-conduction velocities returned to normal in four to six months. Compressive mononeuropathy, an additional complication in two patients, also improved. Electrophysiologic studies suggest that segmental remyelination and nerve axon regeneration are both a part of the reparative process.