Anderson Fabry disease: a histopathological study of three cases with observations on the mechanism of production of pain

Abstract

A clinical review and histopathologic study of three cases of Anderson Fabry disease is presented and pathologic changes in the central and peripheral nervous system are reported, in some sites for the first time. These are telangiectatic changes in vessels of the sympathetic ganglia in the vertebral trunk; storage of glycolipid in pigmented cells of the substantia nigra and in anterior horn cells; and degeneration of nerve fibres in the dorsal root entry zone and substantia gelatinosa of the spinal cord. The histopathologic findings suggest that in this disease pain is due to involvement of dorsal root ganglion cells with associated axonal degeneration of the small fibres in pathways subserving pain.