Reply to the letter: “The diagnostic value of MRI in pediatric chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy”
We are grateful to the authors of the letter to the editor for contributing their opinions on our article “Characteristic MRI features of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy” [1]. We respect your opinion, but there has been some misunderstanding regarding our intended meaning. We believe hypertrophy of the nerve root to be one of the characteristic findings of CIDP, and we argue that this idea is not “absolute or necessary” but is only a “characteristic” finding as noted in our case report [1]. In fact, thickened nerve roots are not a common finding in the references you cited, and it is not necessarily seen in all pediatric patients with CIDP [2–4]. Therefore, we believe this finding to be “characteristic” for pediatric CIDP. In addition, it is important to note that the differential diagnosis for nerve root hypertrophy is not only limited to CIDP; neurofibromatosis type 1 and hereditary motor and sensory neuropathies should also be considered. Finally, the significance of MRI for CIDP remains to be fully elucidated, so further discussion like this argument will be required.