PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - David A Hilton
AU  - John Jacob
AU  - Liz Househam
AU  - Connie Tengah
TI  - Complications following sural and peroneal nerve biopsies
AID  - 10.1136/jnnp.2007.116368
DP  - 2007 Nov 01
TA  - Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry
PG  - 1271--1272
VI  - 78
IP  - 11
4099  - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/78/11/1271.short
4100  - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/78/11/1271.full
SO  - J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry2007 Nov 01; 78
AB  - Nerve biopsy is used as part of the investigation of patients with peripheral neuropathy and is particularly useful in confirming the diagnosis of peripheral nerve vasculitis. Previous studies have suggested that sampling the peroneal nerve, in combination with peroneus brevis, is more sensitive than the sural nerve for this diagnosis but there are no published data on the complication rate of peroneal nerve biopsies. We have assessed the complications in 50 patients undergoing nerve biopsy, and have shown that although biopsy of the peroneal nerve may result in a larger area of sensory loss in some patients, other complications are not increased when compared with sural nerve biopsy.