Abstract

ESPINOSA MARTINEZ, Edgardo et al. Study of the peripheral nervous system in patients with sickle cell anemia. Rev Cubana Hematol Inmunol Hemoter [online]. 2001, vol.17, n.2, pp. 115-122. ISSN 1561-2996.

35 adult patients with sickle cell anemia of whom 15 (42.9 %) were males and 20 (57.1 %) females, were studied at random. Average age in men was 31 (range 16 - 44) and in women 29 (range 16 - 49). All the cases were under basal conditions at the moment of the research. Symptoms and clinical signs related with a possible peripheral neuropathy were only detected in 8 patients (22.5 %). During the nervous conduction study, a significant increase of latency and a marked reduction of the speed of conduction in the median, peroneal and sural nerves were proved in the total of patients compared with the control group. Some type of alteration was found in the electromyogram (EMG) of 24 patients (75 %). No electrical activity was detected in the EMG of any patient at rest. No significant difference was observed in the muscular contraction potential amplitude in the EMG carried out during the voluntary contraction between the patients and the control group. The striated muscles that had more electromyographic alterations were the anterior tibial muscle and the internal gamellus muscle. The pattern of muscular contraction of simple oscillations was not detected in any case. The findings of this study allow to state that polyneuropathy appears frequently in sickle cell anemia, since its localization is peripheral and it is of mixed type, with minimal axonal injury and a subclinical course

Keywords : ANEMIA, HEMOLYTIC, CONGENITAL; PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM DISEASES; NEURAL CONDUCTION.

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