The Pathology of Peripheral Nerve Diseases

Introduction This article will first briefly summarise the structure of the normal peripheral nerve followed by a description of the changes seen when either the axon or the myelin degenerates. Then there is a summary of the clinical features of peripheral neuropathy and the means of investigating them. Next there is a short paragraph on performing the nerve biopsy and what information can be obtained from it. The features that can lead to a diagnosis will then be described. Hereditary neuropathies have attracted considerable interest recently so the article finishes with a very brief overview of the most important of these.