title: Peripheral neuropathy in late onset spinocerebellar ataxia.
abstract: We studied 10 patients with late onset spinocerebellar ataxia including electrophysiological and muscle biopsy examinations. Nerve conduction studies of eight patients revealed axonal neuropathy, and six cases also showed signs of the involvement of the lower motor neuron. In 9 patients quantitative analysis of single motor unit potentials (MUPs) of the tibialis anterior or biceps brachii muscles showed mild to severe neuropathic changes and in all 10 patients the histopathological examination of the tibialis anterior showed mild to severe neuropathic changes. Neither nerve conduction studies, quantitative MUP analysis, nor histological findings of the muscle were related to the severity of duration of the disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, University Central Hospital of Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Nousiainen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Partanen
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Laulumaa
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Paljärvi
mesh_terms: D001706:Biopsy; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008475:Median Nerve / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D009132:Muscles / Q000473:pathology; D009431:Neural Conduction; D010523:Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D010543:Peroneal Nerve / Q000502:physiology; D013132:Spinocerebellar Degenerations / Q000150:complications*; D014459:Ulnar Nerve / Q000502:physiology