@phdthesis{Koeberle2021,
  author    = {K{\"o}berle, Philipp},
  title     = {High-resolution ultrasound for the identification of pathological patterns in patients with polyneuropathies and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-24580},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-245800},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {Neuropathies are a group of potentially treatable diseases with an often disabling and restricting course. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a lethal disease without causal treatment possibilities. The objective of this study was to examine the diagnostic utility of HRUS for the differentiation of subtypes of axonal and demyelinating neuropathies and to investigate its utility for the sonological differentiation of ALS. The hypothetical statement that neuropathy causes enlargement of peripheral nerves compared to healthy controls proved to be right, but the adjunctive assumption that ALS does not cause enlargement of peripheral nerves proved to be wrong - in patients with ALS slight enlargement of peripheral nerves was visible as well. The statement that nerve enlargement can be detected by measurement of the cross-sectional area (CSA) and the longitudinal diameter (LD) with comparable results proved to be right, but the enlargement was slightly less present by measurement of the LD. The statement that axonal and demyelinating neuropathies show distinct patterns of nerve enlargement must be answered differentiated: The comparison between axonal and demyelinating neuropathies showed a stronger nerve enlargement in patients with demyelinating neuropathies than in patients with axonal neuropathies at proximal nerve segments of upper extremities. In the comparison of diagnose-defined subgroups of inflammatory demyelinating neuropathies a respective specific pattern of nerve enlargement was visible. However, remarkable in this context was the strong nerve enlargement found in patients with NSVN, which is classified as an axonal neuropathy. Stratification for specific findings in nerve biopsy did not lead to constructive differences in comparison between the different groups. To sum up, HRUS showed to provide a useful contribution in the diagnostic process of neuropathies and ALS but needs to be integrated in a multimodal diagnostic approach.},
  subject      = {Polyneuropathie},
  language  = {en}
}