Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40559225›Full record

SynthesisMedical sciences (Basel, Switzerland)2025

Sonographic Evaluation of Peripheral Nerves and Cervical Nerve Roots in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Anas Elgenidy, Ibrahim A Hassan, Yasser Hamed, Hassan Ahmed Hashem, Osama Abuel-Naga, Hazem I Abdel-Rahman, Kawashty R Mohamed, Belal Mohamed Hamed, Mennatullah A Shehab, Mohamed Zeyada and 7 more

Abstract readSystematic ReviewMeta-Analysis
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

17 authors.

Anas ElgenidyFaculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo 12613, Egypt.
Ibrahim A HassanFaculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University, Suez 41522, Egypt.
Yasser HamedDepartment of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Assiut 71111, Egypt.
Hassan Ahmed HashemDepartment of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Assiut 71111, Egypt.
Osama Abuel-NagaDepartment of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo 11591, Egypt.
Hazem I Abdel-RahmanDepartment of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo 11591, Egypt.
Kawashty R MohamedDepartment of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Assiut 71111, Egypt.
Belal Mohamed HamedFaculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo 11884, Egypt.
Mennatullah A ShehabFaculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo 12613, Egypt.
Mohamed ZeyadaFaculty of Medicine, Kafr El-Sheikh University, Kafr El-Sheikh 33516, Egypt.
Somaia KassabFaculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt.
Shaimaa Sabri Abdelkarim AbdelgawadFaculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt.
Abdelbaki Idriss IbrahimFaculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo 12613, Egypt.
Ekram Hassan HasaninFaculty of Medicine, University of Tripoli, Tripoli 13932, Libya.
Amira A ElhoufeyDepartment of Community Health Nursing, Alddrab University College, Jazan University, Jazan 45142, Saudi Arabia.
Khalid Hashim MahmoudDepartment of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Shaqra University, Dawadmi 11911, Saudi Arabia.
Khaled SaadPediatric Department, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut 71516, Egypt.ORCID 0000-0002-8473-6116

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAmyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease that leads to nerve atrophy. Ultrasonography has a significant role in the diagnosis of ALS.

aimWe aimed to sonographically assess the size of all peripheral nerves and cervical nerve roots in ALS compared to controls.

methodsWe searched MEDLINE (PubMed), Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Embase, and Scopus using comprehensive MeSH terms for the keywords nerve, ultrasound, and ALS. We extracted data regarding cross-sectional area (CSA) or diameter for the following nerves: vagus, phrenic, tibial, fibular, sural, radial, ulnar, and median nerves, and the roots of C5, C6, C7, and C8 in both ALS patients and controls.

resultsOur study included 2683 participants, of which 1631 were ALS patients (mean age = 60.36), 792 were healthy controls (mean age = 57.79), and 260 were patients with other neurological disorders. ALS patients had significantly smaller nerve size compared to controls. Nerve size differences were observed in the vagus nerve [MD = -0.23], phrenic nerve [MD = -0.25], C5 nerve root [SMD = -0.94], C6 nerve root [SMD = -1.56], C7 nerve root [SMD = -1.18], C8 nerve root [MD = -1.9], accessory nerve [MD = -0.32], sciatic nerve [MD = -11], tibial nerve [MD = -0.68], sural nerve [MD = -0.32,], ulnar nerve [MD = -0.80], and median nerve [MD = -1.21].

conclusionsOur findings showed that ALS patients have a sonographically smaller nerve size than healthy controls. Therefore, this is a potential marker for neuronal diseases.

Indexed as

Amyotrophic Lateral SclerosisPeripheral NervesSpinal Nerve RootsHumansMiddle AgedUltrasonographyamyotrophic lateral sclerosiscervical nerve rootsmeta-analysisperipheral nervesultrasound

Identifiers

PMID40559225
PMCPMC12194937

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.