The value of electrodiagnostic studies in patients with suspected polyneuropathy

Geiger, Christopher D.; Preston, David C.

doi:10.1002/mus.26805

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Ginsberg and Morren recently found similar results 28 ; the EDX of patients with suspected diabetic polyneuropathy presented an alternative diagnosis in about 20% of patients, and in 25% of those patients, it detected other overlapping diseases. Thus, it would be interesting to explore polyneuropathies due to common causes to better determine the origin of symptoms and the outcome 28, 29 . In our study, the frequencies of the identified etiologies differ from other studies conducted in tertiary hospitals 8,[30][31][32][33][34] .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peripheral polyneuropathy from electrodiagnostic tests: a 10-year etiology and neurophysiology overview

Ducci

Tessaro

Kay

et al. 2022

Arq. Neuro-Psiquiatr.

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Background: Polyneuropathies are characterized by a symmetrical impairment of the peripheral nervous system, resulting in sensory, motor and/or autonomic deficits. Due to the heterogeneity of causes, an etiological diagnosis for polyneuropathy is challenging. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the main causes of polyneuropathy confirmed by electrodiagnostic (EDX) tests in a tertiary service and its neurophysiological aspects. Methods: This observational cross-sectional study from a neuromuscular disorders center included individuals whose electrodiagnostic tests performed between 2008 and 2017 confirmed a diagnosis of polyneuropathy. Through analysis of medical records, polyneuropathies were classified according to etiology and neurophysiological aspect. Results: Of the 380 included patients, 59.5% were male, with a median age of 43 years. The main etiologies were: inflammatory (23.7%), hereditary (18.9%), idiopathic (13.7%), multifactorial (11.1%), and diabetes (10.8%). The main electrophysiological patterns were axonal sensorimotor polyneuropathy (36.1%) and “demyelinating and axonal” sensorimotor polyneuropathy (27.9%). Axonal patterns showed greater etiological heterogeneity, with a predominance of idiopathic and multifactorial polyneuropathy, while demyelinating and “demyelinating and axonal” polyneuropathies had a significantly fewer etiologies, with a predominance of hereditary and inflammatory polyneuropathies. Conclusion: The main causes of polyneuropathy confirmed by EDX test in this study were those that presented a severe, atypical and/or rapidly progressing pattern. Other causes were hereditary and those that defy clinical reasoning, such as multiple risk factors; some polyneuropathies did not have a specific etiology. EDX tests are useful for etiological diagnosis of rare polyneuropathies, because neurophysiological patterns are correlated with specific etiologies.

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