Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy Following Anti-TNF-α Therapy With Infliximab for Crohn's Disease

We present a 29-year-old male with Crohn's disease who developed chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) related to infliximab therapy. He developed lower extremity weakness and dysesthesia 3 weeks after a fourth infliximab dose. Laboratory examination revealed an elevated cerebrospinal fluid protein without pleocytosis. The patient initially responded to plasmapheresis therapy with marked symptomatic improvement, but relapsed and was refractory to subsequent treatments with plasmaphereisis, intravenous immunoglobulin, and glucocorticoids. While a causal relationship between infliximab and CIDP cannot be proven, clinicians should monitor Crohn's disease patients who are receiving TNF-α antagonists for neurologic symptoms suggestive of demyelinating disease.