Solvent Based Leukodystrophy

. Sorry my page got wiped out. This is the link to the Wayback machine archive of my old Chemical Leukodystrophy page For now read this excellent and detailed report.
eMedicine - Organic Solvents : Article by Jonathan S Rutchik, MD, MPHn and glial cells.
DR Rutchick does a thorough job of describing the harm that organic solvents do to myelin sheath. I'll be rewriting the original page in a few weeks.
It will contain research from hard to get articles like
Occupational prolonged organic solvent exposure in shoemakers: brain MR spectroscopy findings.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Volume 22, Issue 5, Pages 707-713 This is another article that points out the damage organic solvents cause to the white matter in the brain and peripheral nerves
and And references to little known efforts to study the effects of solvents on myelin sheath health like this abstract from

Pet Scan Findings in a Patient with a Remote History of Exposure to Organic Solvents
Journal article by Menefee, N. R. Temvarney; Applied Neuropsychology, Vol. 5, 1998
Key words: PET scan, solvent syndrome, neuropsychology I find the work being done with PET scanning even more telling than high resolution MRI's. PET scans reveal much more detailed evidence of myelin and glial cell damage. The is a case for recognizing chemical leukodystrophy. That CT and MRI have failed to produce definitive findings in patients exposed to solvents is not altogether unexpected given that the

neuropathological changes associated with solvent exposure involve degeneration of myelin and glia rather than three-dimensional structures

This investigation was supported by funds from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Requests for reprints should be sent to Nils R. Varney, Psychol ogy (116-B) VA Medical Center, Iowa City, IA 52246 USA
Joe Johnson Home Page