Research progress of the diagnosis of small fiber neuropathy

Abstract

Small fiber neuropathy (SFN) is a kind of peripheral neuropathy in which the thinly myelinated A δ fibers and unmyelinated C fibers are predominantly affected, characterized by allodynia, analgesia, thermoanesthesia and/or autonomic nerve dysfunction. Nerve conduction velocity (NCV) detection can detect the pathological changes of large fibers (Aα and Aβ fibers) but not of small fibers, which lack of value in the diagnosis of SFN. Progress of the examinational and diagnostic methods for the neuropathological, neuroelectrophysiological and autonomic nerve functions of SFN in recent years were introduced in this paper.

DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1672-6731.2017.11.013