• Ari Breiner, Hamid Ebadi, Vera Bril, Carolina Barnett, and Hans D Katzberg.
• Department of Medicine (Neurology), The Ottawa Hospital, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
• J Clin Neuromuscul Dis. 2019 Jun 1; 20 (4): 165-172.

ObjectivesMultifocal motor neuropathy (MMN) is a treatable autoimmune polyneuropathy, which may prove challenging diagnostically in the setting of absent conduction blocks or advanced axonal loss. Relatively few studies have examined the role of ultrasound (US) in MMN.MethodsRetrospective, cross-sectional study of patients with MMN who underwent peripheral nerve US. Charts were reviewed to extract clinical, sonographic, and electrophysiological data.ResultsEleven patients with MMN underwent US between 2013 and 2015; of these 11 patients, 7 had ≥3 abnormal nerve segments, and 6 had ≥5 sites of increased cross-sectional area (CSA). There was moderate correlation between the degree of amplitude drop observed in the median and ulnar motor nerves, and CSA. Significant correlation between CSA and limb strength was only observed for the median nerve.ConclusionsPeripheral nerve US shows promise as a diagnostic tool in MMN and may be helpful to distinguish MMN from motor neuron disease.

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