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Updated: Mar 15, 2026
The Fibular Nerve Injury Method: A Reliable Assay to Identify and Test Factors That Repair Neuromuscular Junctions
Published on: August 11, 2016
Electrophysiologic features of fibular neuropathy in childhood and adolescence
Ioannis Karakis1,2,3, Mohammad Khoshnoodi3,4, Wendy Liew1,5
1Department of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Introduction:
We studied patterns of nerve injury in pediatric common fibular (peroneal) neuropathy (CFN).
Methods:
A retrospective analysis was performed on data from 53 children with CFN at a pediatric electromyography laboratory.
Results:
Conduction block at the fibular head was present in 35% of patients. Deep fibular axonal loss was identified in 77%, while superficial fibular axonal loss was identified in 45%. The pathophysiology was predominantly axonal in 72%, mostly demyelinating in 6%, and mixed in 22%. Predominantly demyelinating lesions at the fibular head demonstrated sparing of the superficial fibular sensory nerve (P = 0.01, Fischer exact test). Predominantly axonal lesions had a moderate correlation between superficial and deep fibular axonal loss (Spearman r = 0.52; P = 0.0001).
Conclusions:
There is frequent axonal and fascicular injury in pediatric CFN, similar to adults. Deep and superficial fibular nerve involvements correlate in axonal lesions, whereas superficial fibular sensory fibers are often spared in demyelinating lesions. Muscle Nerve, 2016 Muscle Nerve 55: 693-697, 2017.
