F-wave conduction velocity in alcoholic polyneuropathy.

We used the F-wave conduction velocities to estimate the motor nerve conduction along the proximal segment (spinal cord to knee) of the axon of tibial and common peroneal nerves in ten patients with alcoholic polyneuropathy and compared these to the motor nerve conduction velocities in ten normal subjects. All the studies so obtained showed a normal conduction in the proximal segments even though in three patients the distal nerve conduction values (knee to ankle) revealed moderate to severe neuropathy. These data support the hypothesis that in alcoholic polyneuropathy, motor conduction in proximal segments is not involved even though distal nerves show moderate to severe neuropathy.