Electrophysiological study of peripheral nerves in hypertensive patients

Abstract EN

Twenty five normal subjects and seventy five hypertensive patients were included in this study.

The electrophysiological tests done included three main divisions of the peripheral nerves : first : the sensory nerve function, the motor nerve function and the F – wave measurements.

These tests were done for the patients and controls in parallel.

In hypertensive patients the sensory nerve function, when compared with the control subjects, showed a significant deterioration.

On contrary, assessing the motor nerve function showed completely normal nerve conduction parameters.

Lastly, on assessing the F –wave parameters, only the latency of the slowest F – wave of the common peroneal nerve was prolonged which means that the smallest central fibers were also affected by hypertension.

So, we see that the main effect of hypertension is on the axons of the smallest fibers.

Lastly, it is possible to conclude that hypertensive disease could be associated with various types of peripheral neuropathy.