ABSTRACT
If the cause of a neuropathy is known by means of the clinical examination and laboratory tests, a nerve biopsy is not necessary. In many metabolic neuropathies, the patient’s history and laboratory tests are enough to make a definite causative diagnosis. These include diabetic, alcoholic, and uremic neuropathies. In such patients, the nerve biopsy is performed only to study the basic pathophysiology of neuropathy. Even in cases of GBS, the most common form of neuropathy seen by neurologists, the nerve biopsy is not indicated simply because the diagnosis can be made with certainty in most cases on the basis of the clinical, electrophysiological, and spinal fluid findings.
