BACKGROUND: Neurological involvement occurs throughout the @entity1201 clinical spectrum and is responsible for the most feared consequences of the disease. Ultrasonography (US) provides objective measurements of nerve thickening and asymmetry. We examined @entity1201 @entity1 before beginning multi-drug therapy aiming to describe differences in US measurements between classification groups and between @entity1 with and without reactions. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Eleven paucibacillary (PB) and 85 @entity1202 ( @entity1202 ) @entity1 underwent nerve US. Twenty-seven @entity1 had @entity1201 reactions (type 1, type 2 and/or acute @entity5013 ) prior to US. The ulnar (at the cubital tunnel-Ut-and proximal to the tunnel-Upt), median (M) and @entity3030 ( @entity3030 ) nerves were scanned to measure cross-sectional areas (CSAs) in mm2 and to calculate the asymmetry indexes   CSA (absolute difference between right and left CSAs) and   Utpt (absolute difference between Upt and Ut CSAs). @entity1202 @entity1 showed greater (p<0.05) CSAs than PB at Ut (13.88  11.4/9.53  6.14) and M (10.41  5.4/6.36  0.84).   CSAs and   Utpt were similar between PB and @entity1202 . The CSAs,   CSAs and   Utpt were similar between PB @entity1 with reactions compared to PB @entity1 without reactions. @entity1202 @entity1 with reactions showed significantly greater CSAs (Upt, Ut and M),   CSAs (Upt and Ut) and   Utpt compared to @entity1202 @entity1 without reactions. PB and @entity1202 showed similar frequencies of abnormal US measurements. @entity1 with reactions had higher frequency of nerve thickening and similar frequency of asymmetry to those without reactions. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This is the first study to investigate differences in nerve involvement among @entity1201 classification groups using US before treatment. The magnitude of thickening was greater in @entity1202 and in @entity1 with reactions. Asymmetry indexes were greater in @entity1 with reactions and did not significantly differ between PB and @entity1202 , demonstrating that asymmetry is a characteristic of @entity16 regardless of its classification.

Asymmetric Nerve Enlargement: A Characteristic of XXXX Demonstrated by Ultrasonography.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['Patients', 'patients'] @entity3030 :: ('MESH:D020427', 'Disease') :: ['CF', 'common fibular'] @entity16 :: ('MESH:D009422', 'Disease') :: ['leprosy neuropathy'] @entity1201 :: ('MESH:D007918', 'Disease') :: ['leprosy'] @entity1202 :: ('MESH:D056006', 'Disease') :: ['MB', 'multibacillary'] @entity5013 :: ('MESH:D009443', 'Disease') :: ['neuritis']
@entity16 :: (MESH:D009422,Disease) :: ['Leprosy Neuropathy']
