Sural nerve biopsy studies in Leigh's subacute necrotizing encephalomyelopathy

Peripheral neuropathy marked by reduced nerve conduction velocities was found in four unrelated children, between the ages of 15 months and 9 years, whose autopsies revealed Leigh's subacute necrotizing encephalomyelopathy. Sural nerve biopsies disclosed primary demyelination and remyelination, as well as loss of myelinated and unmyelinated axons. The use of morphometric and electron microscopic studies shows that these techniques may reveal peripheral neuropathy in Leigh's disease more often than light microscopic methods alone.