We report a case of demyelinating lesion in central nervous system in a 38-year-old female patient who suffered from muscle weakness and disability of standing by herself. She worked for 10 hours in a day at the small footwear factory about 1
year
in
1990.
Physical examinations showed normal except increased DTRs in the elbows and knees. Clinical laboratory findings were within normal limits. Brain CT and EMC findings were normal. But, brain MRI showed small multiple high signal intensity area on
T2
weighted image in right frontal white matter, right fronto-parietal periventricular white matter with localized atrophy in genu and rostrum of corpus callosum.
There were no ventilation system in the factory. By the evaluation of work environment 11/2 months later, high concentration of toluene, MEK, n-hexane, MIBK, acetone and cyclohexane were detected.
We suppose her demyelinating lesion was caused by toluene alone or mixed solvents with toluene and others.
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