Clinical and electrophysiological study of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy

Objective To investigate the clinical and electrophysiological features of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP).Methods The clinical symptoms and signs of 11 patients with CIDP were studied， motor conduction velocity(MCV),sensory conduction velocity (SCV) and Electromyography (EMG) were also respectively carried out on 54 motor nerves,28 sensory nerves and 21 muscles of these 11 cases. The amplitudes of compound muscle action potential(CAMP)obtained from distal and proximal ends were compared to ascertain the presence of conduction block (CB) by stimulating the segments starting from the distal ends.Results More than 3 nerves were found involved in 10 out of 11 cases, slow MCV were found in 52％ ,prolongation of the distal latency in 64％ ,reduction of the amplitudes of CAMP in 68％ ,CB in 26％ , slow SCV in 85.7％ . EMG revealed neurogenic damage in 81％ .Conclusion CIDP is a peripheral demyelinating neuropathy involving not only the proximal and distal segments but also the sensory and motor nerves. If there were no conditions to perform nerve biopsy,testing of protein in CSF and electrophysiology mightbe of important diagnostic value for CIDP.