Peroneal mononeuropathy: predisposing factors, and clinical and neurophysiological relationships.
The most common mononeuropathy in the lower extremity involves the nerve. We retrospectively evaluated the etiological predisposing factors and clinical-neurophysiological features of 36 patients affected by peroneal mononeuropathy (PM). In 30 patients, a clear predisposing factor was identified. PM was more frequently perioperative (11 cases), associated with axonal involvement. Unexpectedly, PM was not only due to surgery close to the peroneal region, but was mostly associated with hip surgery and, rarely, with thoracic-abdominal surgery. A postural predisposing factor of PM was also frequently observed, usually associated with a pure conduction block. Conversely, most patients with bedridden predisposing factor presented axonal involvement, which was rarely associated with conduction block. In 25 of 36 PM cases, a long-term follow-up lead to an improvement (12 cases) or to good recovery (13 cases) of PM. In conclusion, our study shows that: (1) in most PM cases it is possible to identify a predisposing factor; (2) there is a good correlation between predisposing factor and neurophysiological involvement, and (3) PM usually has usually a good prognosis.
Aprile
I
I
Institute of Neurology, Catholic University, Largo F. Vito 1, I-00168 Rome, Italy.
Padua
L
L
Padua
R
R
D'Amico
P
P
Meloni
A
A
Caliandro
P
P
Pauri
F
F
Tonali
P
P
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015984:Causality; D002648:Child; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000503:physiopathology; D020427:Peroneal Neuropathies / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies