Journal List > Korean J Clin Neurophysiol > v.15(2) > 1084120

Choi, Park, Eom, and Joo: Clinical and Electrophysiological Characteristics of Meralgia Paresthetica

Abstract

Background:

Meralgia paresthetica (MP) is a mononeuropathy affecting the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve. The disease is often diagnosed clinically, but electrophysiological tests play an important role. The aim of this study is to clarify clinical characteristics of MP as well as the role of sensory nerve conduction study (NCS) in the diagnosis of MP.

Methods:

Sixty-five consecutive patients with clinical diagnosis of MP between March 2001 and June 2012 were retrospectively reviewed at a single tertiary center. General demographics, clinical characteristics and sensory NCS findings were investigated. Measurements of sensory NCS included the baseline-to-peak amplitude, side-to-side amplitude ratio and the conduction velocity. To compare between the normal and abnormal NCS groups, independent t-tests and chi-square test were performed.

Results:

Sixty-five patients had male predominance (56.9%) with mean age of 48.4±13.4 years (range: 16-75). Seven patients (13.5%) had undergone operation or procedure before the symptom onset. The sensory nerve action potentials were obtainable in 52 (80%) of 65 clinically diagnosed MP patients. Sensory NCS revealed abnormalities in 38 patients (73.1%), and others (n=14, 26.9%) showed normal findings. Between the normal and abnormal NCS groups, there is no statistically significant difference on demographics or clinical features.

Conclusions:

We clarify the clinical features and sensory NCS findings of MP patients. Due to several limitations of sensory NCS, the diagnosis of MP could be accomplished both clinically and electrophysiologically.

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Table 1.
Demographic and clinical features of 65 clinically diagnosed patients with meralgia paresthetica
Demographics Age (years) 48.4±13.4 (16.4-74.6)
Sex (male:female) 37 (56.9%):28 (43.1%)
Obesity* 3/35 (8.6%)
Diabetes 5 (7.7%)
Trauma 5 (7.7%)
Operation or procedure 7 (10.8%)
Clinical Symptom duration(months) 31.9±71.1 (0.2-300.0)
Characteristics Bilaterality 3 (4.6%)
Symptom side (R:L) 35 (53.8%):27 (41.5%)
Clinical symptoms
Positive sensory symptoms 17 (26.2%)
Negative sensory symptoms 32 (49.2%)
Both (positive and negative) 16 (24.6%)
Severe (need medications) 20 (30.8%)

* Obesity means BMI above 30 kg/m2. BMI measurements were available in 35 patients.

Table 2.
Comparison between the normal and abnormal NCS groups
Characteristics Sensory nerve conduction findings
Normal NCS (n=14) Abnormal NCS (n=38) p
Age (years) 48.2±10.2 50.0±13.0 0.638
Sex (male:female) 7:7 24:14 0.391
Diabetes 2 (14.3%) 2 (5.3%) 0.291
Trauma 0 (0.0%) 3 (7.9%) 0.555
Operation or procedure 0 (0.0%) 7 (18.4%) 0.169
Symptom duration (months) 33.1±79.4 28.7±58.8 0.829
Clinical symptoms
Positive symptoms 3 (21.4%) 9 (23.7%)
Negative symptoms 8 (57.1%) 18 (47.4%) 0.805
Both 3 (21.4%) 11 (28.9%)
Severe (need medications) 3 (21.4%) 14 (36.8%) 0.341

NCS; nerve conduction study.

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