Affiliations: Pediatric Genetics Unit, Mansoura University
Children's Hospital, Mansoura, Egypt | Pediatric Neurology Unit, Mansoura University
Children's Hospital, Mansoura, Egypt | Pediatric Nephrology Unit, Mansoura University
Children's Hospital, Mansoura, Egypt
Note: [] Correspondence: M. Al-Haggar, MD, Department of Pediatrics,
Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt. Postal address: P.O.
732 Al-Khobar 31952, Saudi Arabia. Tel.: +96638982022; Fax: +96638951196;
E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: Information concerning clinical and sub-clinical peripheral
neuropathy in uremic children is still scarce. We aimed to evaluate role of
neurophysiologic testing for detection of peripheral nerve dysfunction in
asymptomatic uremic Egyptian children. A cohort of 81 uremic children was
enrolled from Pediatric Nephrology Unit in Mansoura University Children's
Hospital. It comprised 39 cases on conservative therapy; conservative group
(CG) (27 males and 12 females, with mean age 9.8 ± 3.3
years) and 42 cases under regular hemodialysis for at least 6 months;
hemodialysis group (HG) (27 males and 15 females, with mean age 11.8
± 1.6 years). A third group of twenty healthy children was
taken as control (12 males, and eight females, with mean age 9.9
± 2.4 years). Nerve conduction studies including motor and
sensory functions were done successfully in most cases; data were analyzed
using SPSS version 10.0. Different proportions of abnormal motor and sensory
conduction studies were reported in both patients' groups with reference to
pediatric ranges built-in Sierra II software. Comparing these observations to
controls, motor peroneal and median conduction velocities as well as sensory
ulnar conduction velocity were significantly delayed in HG (38.46
± 4.49 vs. 48.33 ± 3.35 for peroneal,
50.68 ± 10.87 vs. 57.22 ± 7.13 for
median and 32.82 ± 9.8 vs. 52.08 ±
20.12 for ulnar nerve). However, in CG antidromic sensory median conduction was
the only significant abnormality detected (41.13 ± 9.63
vs. 53.89 ± 12.32). F wave latencies in CG were almost
normal but in HG they were moderately affected compared to controls. We can
conclude that sensory dysfunction could be early detected in asymptomatic
uremic children by neurophysiologic testing. Further prospective studies should
be warranted to evaluate sequential electrophysiological changes in response to
hemodialysis.
Keywords: Electromyography, neuropathy, uremia, Egyptian children
