[Drug induced neuropathies].

The search for a peripheral neuropathy must be systematic when a toxic medicament for the peripheral nervous system is prescribed as well as the search for a drug induced neuropathy is part of the screening of any peripheral neuropathy, but for numerous drugs, the imputability is not strictly demonstrated. A drug induced neuropathy must be differentiated from a neuropathy related to the disease for which the drug was prescribed. It is the case in the course of some cancers and or AIDS. Moreover, the intake of a neurotoxic drug can aggravate a pre-existing neuropathy. Electrophysiological study is important to confirm the neuropathy, to specify the type, more often axonal, and the severity, and also to detect infraclinical signs of neuropathy before the beginning of the treatment. Many of these drug induced neuropathies are reproducible in animals, that is useful to try to diminish the neurotoxicity in human beings. Antineoplastic chemotherapies and antibiotics are most often implicated in drug induced neuropathies.