Normative Data of Intra-epidermal Nerve Fiber Density

December 15, 2025 updated by: University Hospital, Strasbourg, France

Establishement of Normative Intra-epidermal Nerve Fiber Density Using Skin

Intra-epidermal nerve fiber density can be assessed using skin biopsy. A decrease of this density is used to diagnose small fiber neuropathy, despite the absence of normative data in a selected normal population. To establish a normative set of data matched for age and sex is absolutely needed to evaluate the sensibility and specificity of this test.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

300

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • France
      • Besançon, France, 25030
        • CHU De Besancon
      • Nancy, France, 54035
        • CHU de Nancy
      • Strasbourg, France, 67091
        • Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

20 years to 80 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Man or woman between 20-80 years old
  • Normal subjects without pain and neurological impairment
  • No history of neurological disorder
  • Normal neurological examination
  • Normal ECG
  • Normal clotting sample from less than 6 months
  • Available by phone

Exclusion criteria :

  • History of alcoholic intoxication or chemotherapy
  • History of diabetes, kidney insufficiency, monoclonal gammapathy, B/C hepatitis, HIV, coeliac disease, sicca syndrome, raynaud syndrome, systemic erythematous lupus, Fabry disease, amylosis, vascularitis
  • Contraindication to xylocaïn with adrenalin
  • At the site of biopsy : surgery, skin pathology, infection, vascular insufficiency
  • Innate or acquired immunosuppression
  • Innate or acquired clotting abnormality

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Diagnostic
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Biopsy
Procedure: Biopsy
3 mm punch biopsy of the skin at the distal leg.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Measure density of intraepidermic nervous fibres by optical and electronic microscopy in a population of healthy witnesses according to the age and the sex.
Time Frame: 1 month
1 month

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University Hospital, Strasbourg, France

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Nicolas COLLONGUES, MD, University Hospital, Strasbourg, France

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

December 1, 2011

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2012

Study Completion (Actual)

May 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 12, 2011

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 20, 2011

First Posted (Estimated)

December 23, 2011

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

December 22, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 15, 2025

Last Verified

December 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 4961

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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