RESUMEN
Objective To study the neuro electrophysiological characteristics of paraneoplastic peripheral neuropathy (PPN) . Methods A retrospective study was conducted for 29 PPN patients consecutively referred to Neurology Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University between January 2000 and June 2017. The electrophysiological characteristics of motor nerves, sensory nerves of upper and lower limbs were analyzed. Measurement indicators include: (1) The motor conduction velocity and compound muscle action potential amplitude of median, ulnar, tibial, and common peroneal nerves; (2) The sensory conduction velocity and sensory nerve action potential amplitude of median, ulnar, tibial, and superficial peroneal nerves;(3) F waves of median and tibial nerves.Results (1) For patients with PPN, their motor and sensory nerves in upper and lower limbs were damaged. The total anomaly rate of the amplitude was higher than that of the nerve conduction velocity (P＜0.05), while the abnormal rate of amplitude of sensory nerve action potential was greater than that of motor nerve compound muscle action potential (P＜0.05) . Abnormal motor nerve conduction velocity had a similar incidence to abnormal sensory nerve conduction velocity (P＞0.05) . (2) Nerve conduction study showed that abnormality rate of lower extremity is higher than that of upper extremity. (3) Abnormal F waves were observed less frequently than abnormal nerve conduction rates (P＜0.05) . Conclusions The electrophysiological properties of PPN were frequently seen in sensorimotor neuropathy. The damage of distal extremities is more serious. The damage in lower extremity is more severe than that in the upper extremity. The axonal damage mainly occurred in sensory nerves. There is no obvious difference in the degree of demyelination between motor and sensory nerves. Evidence can be provided by analyzing the neuro ectrophysiological characteristics for diagnosis of paraneoplastic peripheral neuropathy in early stage.