Integrated diagnostic approaches for superficial radial neuropathy: The role of ultrasonography in enhancing morphological assessments.

BACKGROUND

Ultrasonography is useful for evaluating cutaneous nerve lesions.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the clinical utility of ultrasonography in accurately localizing nerve abnormalities in distal superficial radial neuropathy, based on clinical symptoms and electrodiagnostic test results.

DESIGN

Retrospective descriptive study.

SETTING

Department of physical medicine and rehabilitation of a tertiary clinic center.

PARTICIPANTS

Twenty-three patients (17 men and 6 women) with superficial radial neuropathy.

INTERVENTIONS: Nerve conduction study and ultrasonography of superficial radial nerve.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The patients were divided into three groups according to the location of the superficial radial nerve lesions based on the electrodiagnostic test results: lateral, medial, and both lesions. Ultrasonographic examination of the superficial radial nerve was performed on the affected and unaffected sides.

RESULTS

According to the electrophysiological findings, patients with both lesions were the most common (10 patients), followed by those with medial (8 patients) and lateral (5 patients) lesions. Ultrasonographic examination revealed abnormal findings in 20 patients (87.0%), including nerve swelling in 19 patients and ganglion swelling in 1 patient. Cohen's kappa agreement coefficients for lesion locations between ultrasonographic and electrophysiological findings and between ultrasonographic and clinical findings were 0.741 and 0.736, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Ultrasonography is useful for evaluating lesion location and structural abnormalities in superficial radial neuropathy and can be complementary to electrodiagnostic tests for diagnosing superficial radial neuropathy.