Shields Lisa B, Iyer Vasudeva G, Zhang Yi Ping, Shields Christopher B
Norton Neuroscience Institute, Norton Healthcare, Louisville, USA.
Neurology/Clinical Neurophysiology, Neurodiagnostic Center of Louisville, Louisville, USA.
Cureus. 2024 Feb 22;16(2):e54710. doi: 10.7759/cureus.54710. eCollection 2024 Feb.
Unilateral calf atrophy may result from several medical conditions, such as lumbar radiculopathy, asymmetric myopathy/dystrophy, a Baker's (popliteal) cyst leading to tibial nerve compression, and disuse atrophy. We present a case series of four patients with unilateral calf atrophy, including chronic neurogenic atrophy (benign focal amyotrophy, one patient), tibial nerve compression at the popliteal fossa by a Baker's cyst (one patient), and disuse atrophy (two patients). All four patients underwent electrodiagnostic (EDX) studies, and two of them had denervation changes of the gastrocnemius. One patient underwent an ultrasound (US), which revealed a large cyst in the popliteal fossa causing compression of the tibial nerve. The differential diagnosis of unilateral calf atrophy as well as diagnostic techniques to confirm the underlying pathology are described. EDX and US studies are useful in differentiating between the varied conditions that may cause asymmetric calf muscle wasting.
单侧小腿萎缩可能由多种医学病症引起，如腰椎神经根病、不对称性肌病/肌营养不良、导致胫神经受压的腘窝囊肿（贝克囊肿）以及废用性萎缩。我们报告了一组4例单侧小腿萎缩患者的病例系列，包括慢性神经源性萎缩（良性局灶性肌萎缩，1例患者）、腘窝囊肿导致的腘窝处胫神经受压（1例患者）以及废用性萎缩（2例患者）。所有4例患者均接受了电诊断（EDX）检查，其中2例患者腓肠肌有失神经改变。1例患者接受了超声（US）检查，结果显示腘窝处有一个大囊肿，压迫胫神经。本文描述了单侧小腿萎缩的鉴别诊断以及用于确认潜在病理的诊断技术。电诊断和超声检查有助于区分可能导致不对称小腿肌肉萎缩的各种病症。
