Metronidazole neuropathy: a case report

A 67-year-old man developed peripheral neuropathy characterized by glove and stocking type sensory disturbances after the ingestion of 101.25 g of metronidazole for hepatic amebiasis. The clinical pictures of metronidazole-induced neuropathy appears to be the same as that of myeloneuropathy. The morphological study of a sural nerve biopsy showed a severe loss of myelinated fibers (2,400 per mm2). The density of unmyelinated fibers was at a lower limit of the normal range (23,530 per mm2). Electronmicroscopy confirmed the axonal degeneration of both the myelinated fibers and unmyelinated fibers.