Prevalence, characteristics, and associated factors of abnormal sensory nerve conduction study of sural nerve in patients with traumatic spinal cord injury: a cross-sectional study

Abstract Objective: To determine the prevalence and associated factors of abnormal sensory nerve conduction study of sural nerve and to describe the characteristics of sural sensory neuropathy in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) Study design: a cross-sectional study with prospective data collection. Setting: Electrodiagnostic unit, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University Subjects: Patients with any level of SCI who had no evidence of lower motor neuron lesion at the sacral level who visited the outpatient department, inpatient department, and urodynamic clinic at Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital between October 2023 and November 2024. Methods: Nerve conduction studies (NCS) were performed following the American Academy of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM) Guideline. The primary assessment was sural sensory NCS then the prevalence of sural neuropathy was calculated. Demographic and medical parameters were collected and analyzed to demonstrate the associations with sural neuropathy. Results: Among 95 participants, 23 were diagnosed with sural neuropathy, indicating a prevalence of 0.24 (95%CI: 0.16-0.34) ). Sural neuropathies observed in all participants were categorized into a type without evidence of compressive neuropathy. The independent associated factors of sural neuropathy were female, time since SCI longer than 10 years, cervical SCI, and history of pressure injury at the ischium. Conclusions: In people with SCI, the prevalence of sural neuropathy is 24%. All of them were categorized into a type without evidence of compressive neuropathy. Further longitudinal studies should be conducted to understand the neurophysiological deterioration following SCI and the causation of the risk factors.