[Characteristic cerebrospinal fluid findings and clinical aspects of lymphocytic meningoradiculitis].

Clinical data and Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) findings of 20 patients suffering from a meningoradiculitis were analyzed. Most patients had a tick bite or an erythema migrans before neurological symptoms occurred. All suffered from severe radicular pain. Predominant neurological symptoms were peripheral palsies of the facial nerve followed by motor paresis of the trunk and the extremities of mostly asymmetric distribution. Predominant CSF alterations were a long lasting inflammatory cellular reaction and an impairment of the blood-CSF barrier. In contrast to the CSF of 17 patients suffering from a polyradiculitis Guillain Barré with a similar total protein content, an intrathecal immunoglobulin IgG synthesis could be confirmed for the majority of the patients. CSF finding would be compatible to a viral as well as a borrelia etiology.