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Abstracts of the 8th Meeting of the Italian Peripheral Nerve Study Group: 5
Author(s) -
Provitera V,
Nolano M,
Stancanelli A,
Di Caprio G,
Crisci C,
Santoro L
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of the peripheral nervous system
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1529-8027
pISSN - 1085-9489
DOI - 10.1046/j.1529-8027.2003.00005.x
Subject(s) - medicine , median nerve , carpal tunnel syndrome , electrophysiology , peripheral , wrist , carpal tunnel , peripheral neuropathy , anatomy , nerve conduction velocity , sensory system , sensory nerve , nerve conduction , nerve fiber , pathology , diabetes mellitus , physiology , surgery , biology , endocrinology , neuroscience
We studied the effect of chronic compression of median nerve at wrist on cutaneous innervation. Two‐mm punch biopsies were obtained from third fingertip in 40 patients (32 female and 8 male, age range 30–74 years) with carpal tunnel syndrome. Patients with diabetes and other metabolic or endocrinological disorders or with electrophysiological findings of a diffuse neuropathy were excluded. By means of immunohistochemical techniques and confocal microscopy we counted epidermal nerve fibers, Meissner corpuscles and myelinated papillary endings. All patients underwent electrophysiological study and quantitative sensory testing using Semmes‐Weinstein monofilaments for tactile threshold and Medoc TSA II Neurosensory analyzer for thermal threshold evaluation. Morphological and functional data were compared with age and sex matched controls. We observed abnormalities of epidermal nerve fibers, mechanoreceptors and their myelinated afferents in all patients. These abnormalities ranged from mild to marked and appeared more severe in patients with a longer disease duration and a slower conduction velocity along the median nerve.