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Peripheral nerve ultrasound in cerebellar ataxia neuropathy vestibular areflexia syndrome (CANVAS)
Author(s) -
Pelosi Luciana,
Leadbetter Ruth,
Mulroy Eoin,
Chancellor Andrew M.,
Mossman Stuart,
Roxburgh Richard
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
muscle and nerve
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.025
H-Index - 145
eISSN - 1097-4598
pISSN - 0148-639X
DOI - 10.1002/mus.25476
Subject(s) - cerebellar ataxia , medicine , vestibular nerve , vestibular system , ataxia , peripheral neuropathy , peripheral , anatomy , neuroscience , audiology , psychology , endocrinology , psychiatry , diabetes mellitus
We report preliminary findings of nerve ultrasound in patients with cerebellar ataxia neuropathy vestibular areflexia syndrome ( C ANVAS) who have sensory impairment due to dorsal root ganglionopathy. Methods The ultrasound cross‐sectional area (CSA) of median and ulnar nerves of 7 CANVAS patients was compared with 7 age‐ and gender‐matched controls and with the mean CSA of our reference population. Results The nerve CSA of CANVAS patients was significantly smaller than that of controls at all sites ( P < 0.01). All but 1 individual measurement of CSA at the mid‐forearm level in the CANVAS patients fell outside the normal control range and was >2 standard deviations below the reference mean. Conclusions The small nerves in CANVAS probably reflect nerve thinning from axonal loss secondary to ganglion cell loss. Our data show a role for ultrasound in the diagnosis of CANVAS ganglionopathy. This may also be applicable to ganglionopathy from other causes. Muscle Nerve 56 : 160–162, 2017.