Scherens Andrea, Maier Christoph, Haussleiter Ida Sybille, Schwenkreis Peter, Vlckova-Moravcova Eva, Baron Ralf, Sommer Claudia
Department of Pain Therapy, Ruhr-University Bochum, BG-Kliniken Bergmannsheil, Bochum, Germany.
Eur J Pain. 2009 Aug;13(7):711-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ejpain.2008.07.014. Epub 2008 Sep 12.
Dysesthesias of the lower limbs are a common complaint of patients and may be indicative of peripheral neuropathy. Here we investigated the prevalence and type of neuropathy in patients presenting with this complaint and compared the diagnostic performance of different diagnostic modalities. Forty-two patients were recruited prospectively and underwent a clinical examination, nerve conduction studies, quantitative sensory testing (QST), and skin biopsy at the dorsum of the foot. All patients had a correlate for their dysesthesias in at least one diagnostic modality. Most patients (>90%) had signs of small fiber loss or dysfunction. In about half of all patients large fibers were also affected. Nerve conduction studies were abnormal in 23/42 patients (54.8%). Cold or warm detection thresholds in QST were abnormal in 15/42 (35.7%) patients. Decreased intraepidermal nerve fiber density (IENFD) was found in 37 patients (88.1%), including some patients with normal QST findings. Nearly all patients with pathological QST had a reduced IENFD, indicating a high positive predictive value (93%) of QST in screening for reduced IENFD as correlate for neuropathy. Therefore in all patients with lower limb dysesthesias of unknown origin, the non-invasive methods of NCS and QST should be used and potentially complemented by skin biopsy.
下肢感觉异常是患者常见的主诉,可能提示周围神经病变。在此,我们调查了有此主诉患者的神经病变患病率及类型,并比较了不同诊断方法的诊断效能。前瞻性招募了42例患者,对其进行临床检查、神经传导研究、定量感觉测试(QST)以及足背皮肤活检。所有患者至少在一种诊断方法中存在与感觉异常相关的表现。大多数患者(>90%)有小纤维丢失或功能障碍的体征。约半数患者的大纤维也受到影响。42例患者中有23例(54.8%)神经传导研究异常。42例患者中有15例(35.7%)QST中的冷或温觉检测阈值异常。37例患者(88.1%)发现表皮内神经纤维密度(IENFD)降低,包括一些QST结果正常的患者。几乎所有QST结果异常的患者IENFD均降低,表明QST在筛查IENFD降低作为神经病变相关指标方面具有较高的阳性预测价值(93%)。因此,对于所有不明原因的下肢感觉异常患者,应使用神经传导研究和QST等非侵入性方法,并可能辅以皮肤活检。