Ultrasound Imaging of the Sural Nerve Improves Near-Nerve Recording

Introduction: The near-nerve technique is a particularly sensitive method for the detection of demyelination of peripheral nerves. However, the quality of the results critically depends on the position of the recording electrode. Therefore we used B-mode ultrasound to quantitatively study how the properties of sensory nerve action potentials vary with the distance between the needle electrode and the nerve. Subjects and Methods: We examined both legs of 24 healthy people with a standard ultrasound system equipped with a linear 13.5MHz array. At the beginning of each investigation the sural nerve was located late…