Neurophysiological, nerve imaging and other techniques to assess chemotherapy-induced peripheral neurotoxicity in the clinical and research settings

Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neurotoxicity (CIPN) is a common dose-limiting side effect of several anticancer medications. CIPN may involve multiple areas of the peripheral nervous system from the autonomic and dorsal root ganglia (DRG) to the axon and any peripheral nerve fibre type. Large diameter sensory myelinated (Aβ) fibres are more frequently involved, but motor, small myelinated (Aδ), unmyelinated (C) or autonomic fibres may also be affected. Here, we review the current evidence on techniques for the CIPN assessment in the clinical and experimental settings. Nerve conduction studies (NCS) may be used at the subclinical and early CIPN stage, to assess the extent of large nerve fibre damage and to monitor long-term outcomes, with the sural or dorsal sural nerve as the…