Neuromuscular Ultrasonography Utility for Detection of Peripheral Neuropathy in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

The frequency of SLE peripheral neuropathy documented by electrophysiology has been estimated to be approximately 30%.

The term peripheral neuropathies include symmetric polyneuropathy, single and multiple mononeuropathy, and radiculopathy.

There has been increasing interest in using ultrasonography (US) to aid peripheral neuropathy diagnosis and studies have shown good correlation with other imaging modalities. US is a non-invasive and inexpensive imaging device that has become widely available as a diagnostic tool at many fields.

so systemic lupus patients were enrolled in the study , performed nerve conduction study and neuromuscular ultrasound for bil. median, ulnar, peroneal, tibial and sural nerves , on statistics the cross sections were compared in neurophusiologically affected and non affected nerves, also the sensitivity and specifity of NMUS in comparison to the traditional NCS was calculated

Inclusion criteria

• All adult SLE patients who was admitted to Rheumatology & Rehabilitation department of Assuit university hospital during time frame of study.
• apparently healthy subjects with normal electrophysiological study
• verbal consent, free and informed

Exclusion criteria

• • Other causes of peripheral neuropathy:

• Traumatic
• Purely degenerative
• Diabetic
• Toxic
• Infections
• Drug induced