In medicine, a nerve biopsy is an invasive procedure in which a piece of nerve is removed from an organism and examined under a microscope. A nerve biopsy can lead to the discovery of various necrotizing vasculitis, amyloidosis, sarcoidosis, leprosy, metabolic neuropathies, inflammation of the nerve, loss of axon tissue, and demyelination.
Biopsy literally means an examination of tissue removed from a living body to discover the presence, cause, or extent of a disease.
Marchiafava–Bignami disease (MBD) is a progressive neurological disease of alcohol use disorder or malnutrition, characterized by corpus callosum demyelination and necrosis and subsequent atrophy. The disease was first described in 1903 by the Italian pathologists Amico Bignami and Ettore Marchiafava in an Italian Chianti drinker. In this autopsy, Marchiafava and Bignami noticed that the middle two-thirds of the corpus callosum were necrotic. It presents in three forms: acute, subacute, and chronic. It is very difficult to diagnose and there is no specific treatment. Until 2008 only around 300 cases had been reported. If the condition is detected early enough, most patients survive.
Tabes dorsalis is a late consequence of neurosyphilis, characterized by the slow degeneration (specifically, demyelination) of the neural tracts primarily in the dorsal root ganglia of the spinal cord (nerve root). These patients have lancinating nerve root pain which is aggravated by coughing, and features of sensory ataxia with ocular involvement.