The Neuroimage Study of the Neuromuscular Disorders.

The neuromuscular disorders could be briefly divided to neuropathy, myopathy, motor neuron disease, and neuromuscular junction disorder. In the past, the evaluation of the neuromuscular disorders depended on several ways (ex. electrodiagnostic studies and biopsy) to evaluate the pathophysiology and the pathological change. However, due to the issue of resolution, few image studies were available to evaluate the structure for clinical practice. With the growing techniques, there are two ways to see the nerve and muscle in vivo, the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the ultrasonography. The availability of the machine, the high cost, inability to change the position for dynamic views of the nerves, and the relative invasion considering the large energy penetrating the patient might limit the clinical use of MRI. The nerve ultrasonography is a safe and easily available technique. The development of high-frequency transducers has led to an improvement in the resolution of ultrasonography and enables the exploration of peripheral nerve and muscle structural changes. In additional to evaluate the morphological changes, ultrasonography has been used extensively for the vessel status assessment through duplex ultrasound. In present study, we will apply variable approaches, including to muscle, nerve, and skin biopsy, electrophysiological study, quantitative sensory testing, autonomic functional tests, pain evoked potentials, MRI, and ultrasonography to integrally investigate the different aspects of neuromuscular disorders. The results of the study will provide integrated insights of (1) the neurophysiology of nerve and vessels and (2) pathogenesis of different neuromuscular disorders.