Muscle & nerve
-
Meralgia paresthetica is a focal neuropathy caused by compression of the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve (LFCN). The disease can be difficult to assess by neurophysiological or imaging studies. ⋯ Meralgia paresthetica is associated with loss of small intraepidermal nerve fibers. Skin biopsy with IENFD evaluation may be a useful diagnostic tool for this disease.
-
In severe acute quadriplegic myopathy in intensive care unit (ICU) patients, muscle fibers are electrically inexcitable; in critical illness polyneuropathy, the excitability remains normal. Conventional electrodiagnostic methods do not provide the means to adequately differentiate between them. In this study we aimed to further optimize the methodology for the study of critically ill ICU patients and to create a reference database in healthy controls. ⋯ Using the ratio of neCMAP/dmCMAP (response from nerve and direct muscle stimulation), refractory period, and stimulus-response curves may optimize the electrodiagnostic differentiation of patients with critical illness myopathy from those with critical illness polyneuropathy.
-
High-resolution ultrasonography (HRU) is a novel method that provides morphological information about peripheral nerves. We aimed to determine reference values for nerve cross-sectional area (CSA) on HRU. ⋯ This study provides normative values for HRU, and it suggests that further research with age- and gender-specific distributions must be a key priority in the development of HRU for use as a diagnostic test for peripheral nerve diseases.
-
Skeletal muscle oxidative capacity decreases and fatigability increases after spinal cord injury. Transcription factor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor δ (PPARδ) promotes a more oxidative phenotype. ⋯ The results indicate a conversion toward slower, more oxidative, and less fatigable muscle properties with overexpression of PPARδ. Importantly, the elevated fatigue resistance was maintained after ST, suggesting that enhanced PPARδ expression, and possibly small molecule agonists, could ameliorate the increased fatigability routinely observed in chronically paralyzed muscles.
-
The aim of this study was to determine whether electrically evoked multiplet discharges (MDs) are related to severity of clinical deterioration in motor neuron disease (MND). ⋯ Electrically evoked MDs are associated with more marked clinical deterioration in patients with MND.