Clinical heterogeneity in mild chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy

We describe the clinical presentation, progression and electrodiagnostic features of three patients with a mild form of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP). The unusually mild but also variable clinical picture was a cause of diagnostic uncertainty in all, but CIDP was eventually confirmed by extensive electrophysiological studies in each case, as well as by histology in one. Cerebrospinal fluid protein was raised in only one patient. Two patients were treated by intravenous immunoglobulins and both improved. Awareness of the existence of this relatively benign form of CIDP in its various presentations is essential as it can be functionally disabling, progress to more severe symptomatology, and as patients may benefit from immunomodulatory therapy.