Table 1 In- and exclusion criteria

Patients between 18 and ≤ 70 years

Paraneoplastic pnp

Alcohol-related polyneuropathy (pnp)

Current immunosuppressive therapy

Malignant tumor

Peripheral vascular disease

Collagenous diseases

Diabetes mellitus

Chronic venous insufficiency

Deep vein thrombosis

Skin diseases in the lower extremity

Coagulopathy or anticoagulant therapy

Pregnancy

Infectious diseases (hiv, hepatitis)

Patients with clinical and electrophysiological suspect of a peripheral neuropathy that were indicated for a nerve biopsy to establish the cause of this neuropathy

Patients that were mentally and legally capable to understand the informed consent

Patients that signed the informed consent