Abstract

A 42-year-old, previously healthy man, developed dizziness and headaches. A CT scan revealed areas of demyelination in the left temporal lobe. He had been exposed to large amounts of organic solvents for most of his working life and as other possibilities could be excluded it was suspected that this was the cause. Background In recent years there has been much interest in the possibility of damage to the central nervous system by organic solvents. These fat solvents have anaesthetic and narcotic properties on short-term exposure to high concentrations. Less is known about the effects of long-term exposure to lower concentrations. Although much of the work which has been carried out has been directed at psychiatric problems there has also been some investigation of neurological disorders. Cherry et al1