High-resolution ultrasound in patients with Wartenberg's migrant sensory neuritis, a case-control study

Ingrid J T Herraets, H Stephan Goedee, Johan A Telleman, Jan-Thies H van Asseldonk, Leo H Visser, W Ludo van der Pol, Leonard H van den Berg

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Wartenberg's migrant sensory neuritis (WMSN) is a rare, patchy, pure sensory neuropathy of unknown etiology. High-resolution ultrasonography (HRUS) is an emerging diagnostic technique for neuropathies, but it has not been applied in WMSN. In this study we aimed to determine HRUS abnormalities in WMSN.

METHODS: We performed a case-control study of 8 newly diagnosed patients with WMSN and 22 treatment-naive disease controls (16 patients with pure sensory axonal neuropathy and 6 with pure sensory chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) or Lewis-Sumner syndrome (LSS)). All patients underwent routine diagnostic evaluations and a predefined HRUS protocol.

RESULTS: We found multifocal nerve enlargement in all 8 WMSN patients. The median nerve in the upper arm and the sural nerve were significantly larger in WMSN than in axonal controls (p = 0.01 and p = 0.04). In CIDP/LSS, sonographic enlargement was more extensive. Furthermore we found brachial plexus involvement in 3 of 8 (38%) WMSN patients.

CONCLUSION: HRUS showed enlargement of multiple nerves in all WMSN patients even if clinical testing and NCS were normal.

SIGNIFICANCE: The feature of multifocal nerve enlargement may be of additional value in establishing the diagnosis of WMSN and may support the suggestion of an auto-immune etiology.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)232-237
Number of pages6
JournalClinical Neurophysiology
Volume129
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2018

Keywords

  • Multifocal nerve enlargement
  • Nerve conduction studies
  • Peripheral neuropathy
  • Ultrasound
  • Wartenberg’s migrant sensory neuritis

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