title: Motor nerve biopsy: clinical usefulness and histopathological criteria.
abstract: Early differential diagnosis of motor neuropathies (MN) and lower motor neuron diseases (LMND) is important, as prognosis and therapeutic approaches are different. We evaluated the diagnostic contribution of the biopsy of the motor branch of the obturator nerve and gracilis muscle in 21 consecutive patients in which, after proper clinical and neurophysiological studies, the differential diagnosis was still open. At baseline, motor biopsy was performed; diagnostic confirmation was obtained by 2-year clinical follow-up. Our results support the usefulness of this diagnostic procedure for selected cases of MN and LMND.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, INSPE and Division of Neuroscience, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy. riva.nilo@hsr.it
authors.forename: Nilo
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Riva
authors.forename: Sandro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Iannaccone
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Corbo
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Casellato
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sferrazza
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lazzerini
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scarlato
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cerri
authors.forename: Stefano C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Previtali
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nobile-Orazio
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Comi
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Quattrini
mesh_terms: D001706:Biopsy; D004525:Efferent Pathways / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D016472:Motor Neuron Disease / Q000473:pathology*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal; D009469:Neuromuscular Junction; D009776:Obturator Nerve; D017933:Peripheral Nervous System