Occurrence of nerve entrapment lesion in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the occurrence of nerve entrapment syndrome in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP). METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated neurophysiologic results of 41 (25 male and 16 female, mean age 49.8, range 11-87) patients with CIDP. We evaluated the frequency of focal neurophysiologic lesion at entrapment site distinguishing two kinds of lesion: (a) true entrapment; and (b) false entrapment on the basis of nerve conduction results. RESULTS: Occurrence of focal aggression within the entrapment site is similar to that out of the entrapment site in all examined nerves. CONCLUSIONS: The entrapment sites are not an elective zone of focal autoimmune aggression in CIDP. Therefore, in CIDP patients a true entrapment, neurophysiologically demonstrated, could be a concomitant pathology and if a severe and persistent entrapment worsens functional deficit and symptoms, a surgical decompression could be useful.