TY - JOUR
T1 - Misdiagnosis of lumbar-sacral radiculopathy: usefulness of combination of EMG and ultrasound
AU - Padua, Luca
AU - Commodari, I
AU - Zappia, Mario Carmelo
AU - Pazzaglia, Costanza
AU - Tonali, Pietro Attilio
PY - 2007
Y1 - 2007
N2 - In the presence of sensitive symptoms along the lumbar-sacral dermatomeric region, it is easy to suspect a lumbar-sacral radiculopathy, it being a very common disease. Clinical evaluation, neurophysiology and magnetic resonance imaging are common tools in diagnosing lumbosacral radiculopathy. Nevertheless, sometimes tumour may mimic radiculopathy. With the improvement of ultrasound, most peripheral nerves may be virtually identified. We describe two patients where tumour of sural nerve and tibial nerve mimicked S1 radiculopathy. We diagnosed the tumours only through a comprehensive nerve assessment combining clinical evaluation, US and neurophysiology. The association of neurophysiological and imaging US assessments, possibly in the same session, may avoid misdiagnosis.
AB - In the presence of sensitive symptoms along the lumbar-sacral dermatomeric region, it is easy to suspect a lumbar-sacral radiculopathy, it being a very common disease. Clinical evaluation, neurophysiology and magnetic resonance imaging are common tools in diagnosing lumbosacral radiculopathy. Nevertheless, sometimes tumour may mimic radiculopathy. With the improvement of ultrasound, most peripheral nerves may be virtually identified. We describe two patients where tumour of sural nerve and tibial nerve mimicked S1 radiculopathy. We diagnosed the tumours only through a comprehensive nerve assessment combining clinical evaluation, US and neurophysiology. The association of neurophysiological and imaging US assessments, possibly in the same session, may avoid misdiagnosis.
KW - EMG
KW - Ultrasound
KW - umbar-sacral radiculopathy
KW - EMG
KW - Ultrasound
KW - umbar-sacral radiculopathy
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10807/12673
M3 - Article
SN - 1590-1874
VL - 28
SP - 154
EP - 155
JO - Neurological Sciences
JF - Neurological Sciences
ER -