A retrospective study of all individuals referred to the clinical Neurophysiology laboratory, Harare during a three year period and found to have electrophysiological evidence of peripheral nerve lesions is presented. One hundred and ninety-two patients had peripheral nerve lesions of which 64 were traumatic and 128 non-traumatic. The commonest cause of trauma was road traffic accidents and the nerves most frequently affected were ulnar, sciatic and radial. Ten individuals had iatrogenic nerve lesions following either surgical procedures or intramuscular injections.
Of the non-traumatic lesions carpal tunnel syndrome was diagnosed in 73% of cases. Women were more often affected than men. Many (59%) of the patients had unilateral symptoms but 20 of them had significantly reduced conduction velocity on the other side. In 18 individuals evidence of the "double crush" syndrome was found. Carpal tunnel syndrome was found idiopathic in most cases.
Tardy ulnar palsy occurred in 14 cases and 11 patients had radial nerve palsy. The pattern of peripheral nerve lesions found in this report appears similar to that reported elsewhere.
