Epidermal innervation morphometry by immunofluorescence and bright-field microscopy.

摘要: We investigated the agreement between simple indirect immunofluorescence (IF) and bright-field immunohistochemistry (BFI) on free-floating sections for intraepidermal nerve fiber density (IENFD) quantification. Fifty-five healthy subjects 63 patients with probable small neuropathy (SFN) underwent two adjacent skin biopsies at distal leg processed by IF BFI technique. Agreement IENFD pairs obtained each method was assessed Bland-Altman testing. The area under curve of receiving operating characteristics (ROC) curves used to compare discrimination ability. diagnostic judgment based sex age-adjusted normative values. showed good correlation (r = 0.81), a ratio about 2:1 mean difference 5.5 ± 3.0 IENF per millimeter paired measures, as demonstrated linear regression test analyses. square root transformation confirmed Poisson distribution data fixed bias measurements. ROC analysis striking overlap (0.83 0.82; p = 0.72). diagnosis SFN disagreed in only 6.7% cases when >1 from 5% cut-off value. comparable efficiency referred appropriate reference