Kerasnoudis Antonios
Department of Neurology, Ruhr University, St. Josef-Hospital, Bochum, Germany.
J Neuroimaging. 2014 May-Jun;24(3):305-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1552-6569.2012.00757.x. Epub 2012 Dec 17.
Multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN) is an acquired, immune mediated, and commonly associated with antiganglioside antibodies against GM1 lower motor neuropathy, with an incidence of 1 per 100,000. The usual age of onset is between 20 and 50 years and men appear to be more often affected than women. Patients usually present with multifocal weakness that can be localized to named nerve distributions.
The gold standard for the diagnosis is the electrophysiological detection of focal, partial conduction block of motor fibers without involvement of sensory fibers, at sites that are uncommon areas of compression. The diagnostic sonography of the peripheral nervous system is a rapidly evolving and constantly expanding imaging field in the last years, especially in patients presenting with signs of polyneuropathy.
We report for the first time a correlation of the sonographic and electrophysiological findings in a patient with MMN.
We draw the attention on the usefulness of ultrasonography for detecting and diagnosing segmental lesions of the peripheral nerves in MMN and other immune mediated neuropathies, especially in cases where a nervous segment cannot be easily explored in terms of inching technique.
多灶性运动神经病（MMN）是一种获得性、免疫介导的疾病，通常与抗GM1神经节苷脂抗体相关，属于下运动神经元神经病，发病率为十万分之一。发病年龄通常在20至50岁之间，男性受累似乎比女性更为常见。患者通常表现为多灶性肌无力，可局限于特定的神经分布区域。
诊断的金标准是在非常见受压部位通过电生理检测发现运动纤维的局灶性、部分性传导阻滞，而感觉纤维不受累。近年来，外周神经系统的诊断性超声检查是一个快速发展且不断扩展的成像领域，尤其适用于有多发性神经病体征的患者。
我们首次报告了一例MMN患者超声检查与电生理检查结果的相关性。
我们提请注意超声检查在检测和诊断MMN及其他免疫介导性神经病的周围神经节段性病变中的作用，特别是在难以通过分段技术轻易探查神经节段的情况下。
