ABSTRACT
Peripheral neuropathy is a rare but significant cause of storage and voiding dysfunction. The cause of the neuropathy can be metabolic, iatrogenic, traumatic, infective, or immunologic. This chapter focuses on the infective and immunologic disorders that may lead to peripheral neuropathy, namely lumbosacral herpes zoster, genitourinary herpes simplex, tabes dorsalis, and Guillain–Barre syndrome. An adequate working knowledge of the underlying pathophysiology, clinical presentation, diagnosis, and management of such a dysfunction is essential in any urologist’s armamentarium. The herpes virus family consists of DNA viruses that are relatively large and made up of 162 cylindrical capsomeres. Herpes zoster is a varicella-zoster virus infection manifested by circumscribed painful vesicular eruption of the skin and mucous membrane. Urinary retention afflicts 3.5% of patients with active herpes zoster infection, and is most commonly seen in the infection of the sacral dorsal root ganglia, followed by thoracolumbar and higher thoracic levels.
