Peripheral Neuropathies Seen by Ultrasound: A Literature Analysis through Lexical Evaluation, Geographical Assessment and Graph Theory

Coraci, Daniele; Loreti, Claudia; Fusco, Augusto; Giovannini, Silvia; Padua, Luca

doi:10.3390/brainsci11010113

Cited by 13 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…In the case of multiple affiliations, just the first one was considered. For each country, the percentages with respect to the total number of papers were calculated and represented as a world map [ 18 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The modularity class shows the aggregation of nodes and, in our case, which words are “close” to others. The closeness centrality and the betweenness centrality indicate how well the nodes are connected with the others [ 18 ] ( Figure 2 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, the evaluation of the single words used to convey the meanings may reveal the homogeneity or not of the language used in scientific literature. These examples indicate some potentialities of the literature analysis that are often scarcely explored [ 18 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Neuropathic Pain and Ultrasonography: A Multiperspective Literature Evaluation

et al. 2021

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Among the tools useful for the management of neuropathic pain, ultrasound presents several advantages, shown by the literature. We assessed the scientific production about neuropathic pain and ultrasound from different points of view: general topics, journal categories, geographical origin and lexical analysis. We searched papers on PubMed using the Medical Subject Headings “neuropathic pain” AND “ultrasound”. We collected data about the journals where the papers were published, the country of the affiliation of the first author. For the lexical analysis, we evaluated the presence of selected words in the papers, and we built a graph representing the connections among words and papers. The papers were focused on the use of ultrasound as a diagnostic tool and guide for the therapy, assessing its application in different diseases such as Morton’s neuroma and piriformis syndrome. The most represented journal category was anesthesia while the most common country the United States of America. The lexical analysis confirmed the importance of ultrasound for diagnosis of specific disease and treatment of pain. The described approaches provide a multiperspective evaluation of the literature and may support the interpretation of the information contained by the papers.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Neuropathic Pain and Ultrasonography: A Multiperspective Literature Evaluation

et al. 2021

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“…It may also help to evaluate intrinsic and extrinsic abnormalities, as well as to assess the muscles that can indirectly give information about nerve fibers. Therefore, it seems that ultrasound should be considered as one of the useful research tools not only in diagnostics but also in treatment (e.g., injection of specific drugs for anesthesia and pain relief) [ 10 ]. For the diagnosis of small fibre neuropathy (SFN) supplemented recommendations on the use of a skin biopsy with intraepidermal nerve fiber density (IENFD) appeared in 2010 [ 11 ], however, no clear diagnostic universal recommendations have been developed yet [ 12 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Retrospective Analysis of Pain Etiology in Middle-Aged Patients with Peripheral Neuropathy

2021

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Background and Objectives: Correct assessment and a multidisciplinary approach appear to be extremely important in preventing peripheral neuropathy and its complications. The purpose of this study was to find the correlations and dissimilarities between different types of peripheral neuropathy, the occurrence of pain, and laboratory results. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study assessed 124 patients who were hospitalized in our neurology department due to various types of sensory or motor disturbances. The patients were eventually diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy, based on the electrophysiological study, anamnesis, physical examination, and laboratory results. The whole group was subjected to statistical analysis. Results: The mean age of patients was over 56 years, with a slight woman predominance. A statistically significant (p < 0.05) relationship between the place of residence and gender was seen, where more men than women live in the rural area, while more women than men live in the urban area. Most often we observed symmetric, sensorimotor, demyelinating, inflammatory, and chronic neuropathy. More than 40% of patients reported pain. A statistically significant correlation between the evolution/severity and the occurrence of pain was seen in subacute type (p < 0.05) and small fibre neuropathy (p < 0.01). Conclusions: A higher incidence of peripheral neuropathy in middle-aged people will become essential in the aging society with lifestyle and chronic disorders. Peripheral neuropathy is slightly more common in women than men and its occurrence may be influenced by work performed or internal and external factors. In the study group, more than 40% of patients reported pain, therefore the pain measurement for each patient should be implemented and repeated at every visit. An assessment of sodium level and, in women, markers of neuroinflammation level in the various types of peripheral neuropathy may be an interesting direction for the future.

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“…Eventually, nerve biopsy will not be the only technique available to study nerve morphology: there is an increasing interest in literature about ultrasounds, used not only as a diagnostic tool, but also to treat many mononeuropathies [ 6 ]; and about skin biopsy, easy to perform and somewhat better than nerve biopsy in studying small fibers [ 7 ].…”

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confidence: 99%