Rinshō shinkeigaku = Clinical neurology
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Review Case Reports
[Successful treatment in a patient with a focal form of stiff-person syndrome using plasma exchange and intravenous immunoglobulin therapy].
We report a 42-year-old female with continuous muscle stiffness and painful muscle spasms of the right leg. The symptoms developed suddenly and worsened over the week after onset. At hospitalization, the right leg had a fixed posture of extension and the foot was plantar-flexed and internally rotated. ⋯ Plasma exchange therapy alleviated the clinical symptoms and decreased the anti-GAD antibody titer. After IVIg therapy, the symptoms and signs have dramatically disappeared to date but the titer of anti-GAD antibodies in serum recurred after an initial fall. To our knowledge, this is the first case of stiff-leg syndrome in Japan.