Utility of Sensory Nerve Conduction Study in Radiologically Positive Lumbosacral Plexopathy.

MRI is the most appropriate imaging method for visual evaluation of lumbosacral plexopathy (LSP) and a reference for comparing with nerve conduction study (NCS). Eight patients with clinical, electrophysiological, and lumbosacral plexus MRI findings suggestive of LSP were prospectively recruited. Saphenous nerve abnormalities were present in seven patients (88%), compared to three for the superficial fibular (38%), and three for the sural nerve (38%). MRI showed tumor, hematoma, abscess, contrast enhancement, or hyperintense signals on the T2-weighted sequences. The SN has the highest yield in MRI positive LSP and may be a vital adjunct for electrophysiological evaluation of LSP.

Corpus Callosum-Mediated Interhemispheric Interactions in Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy.

PURPOSE: The corpus callosum is crucial for interhemispheric interactions in the motor control of limb functions. Human and animal studies suggested spinal cord pathologies may induce cortical reorganization in sensorimotor areas. We investigate participation of the corpus callosum in executions of a simple motor task in patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) using transcranial magnetic stimulation. METHODS: Twenty patients with CSM with various MRI grades of severity of cord compression were compared with 19 normal controls. Ipsilateral silent period, contralateral silent period, central motor conduction time, and transcallosal conduction time (TCT) were determined. RESULTS: In both upper and lower limbs, TCTs were significantly increased for patients with CSM than normal controls ( p < 0.001 for all), without side-to-side differences. Ipsilateral silent period and contralateral silent period durations were significantly increased bilaterally for upper limbs in comparison to controls ( p < 0.01 for all), without side-to-side differences. There were no significant correlations of TCT with central motor conduction time nor severity of CSM for both upper and lower limbs ( p > 0.05 for all) bilaterally. CONCLUSIONS: Previous transcranial magnetic stimulation studies show increased motor cortex excitability in CSM; hence, increased TCTs observed bilaterally may be a compensatory mechanism for effective unidirectional and uniplanar execution of muscle activation in the distal limb muscles. Lack of correlation of TCTs with severity of CSM or central motor conduction time may be in keeping with a preexistent role of the corpus callosum as a predominantly inhibitory pathway for counteracting redundant movements resulting from increased motor cortex excitability occurring after spinal cord lesions.

Impact of Cryotherapy on Sensory, Motor, and Autonomic Neuropathy in Breast Cancer Patients Receiving Paclitaxel: A Randomized, Controlled Trial.

Introduction: We conducted a randomized controlled trial evaluating the efficacy and tolerability of cryotherapy in preventing chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) in patients with early breast cancer receiving neo/adjuvant weekly paclitaxel. Methods: Patients were recruited from the National Cancer Centre Singapore and randomized (1:1) to receive either cryotherapy or usual care. Cryotherapy was applied as frozen gloves and socks on all extremities from 15 min before paclitaxel until 15 min post-infusion every cycle. Efficacy was measured by patient-reported outcomes (Patient Neurotoxicity Questionnaire [PNQ] and EORTC QLQ-CIPN20) and electrophysiological assessments. The primary endpoint was PNQ severity at 2 weeks after 12 cycles of weekly paclitaxel. Results: A total of 46 patients were recruited, of which 8 dropped out before paclitaxel treatment, leaving 38 evaluable. There was no significant difference in PNQ severity between cryotherapy and usual care at 2 weeks after paclitaxel treatment (sensory: p = 0.721; motor: p = 1.000). A benefit was observed at 3 months post-paclitaxel based on PNQ (sensory: 14.3 vs. 41.2%, p = 0.078; motor: 0 vs. 29.4%, p = 0.012) and CIPN20 (sensory: ß = -3.6, 95%CI = -10.5-3.4, p = 0.308; motor: ß = -7.3, 95%CI = -14.6-0, p = 0.051). Additionally, cryotherapy subjects have lower CIPN20 autonomic score (ß = -5.84, 95%CI = -11.15 to -0.524, p = 0.031) and higher sympathetic skin response hand amplitudes (ß = 0.544, 95%CI = 0.108-0.98, p = 0.014), suggesting possible autonomic benefits from cryotherapy. Temporary interruption with cryotherapy occurred in 80.9% of the subjects due to cold intolerance. Conclusions: There is insufficient evidence that cryotherapy prevents sensory neuropathy which may be due to the high rates of cryotherapy interruption in this study. The autonomic benefits of cryotherapy should be further investigated with appropriate outcome measures. Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03429972.

Systematic re-evaluation of intraoperative motor-evoked potential suppression in scoliosis surgery.

BACKGROUND: Motor- (MEP) and somatosensory-evoked potentials (SSEP) are susceptible to the effects of intraoperative environmental factors. METHODS: Over a 5-year period, 250 patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) who underwent corrective surgery with IOM were retrospectively analyzed for MEP suppression (MEPS). RESULTS: Our results show that four distinct groups of MEPS were encountered over the study period. All 12 patients did not sustain any neurological deficits postoperatively. However, comparison of groups 1 and 2 suggests that neither the duration of anesthesia nor speed of surgical or anesthetic intervention were associated with recovery to a level beyond the criteria for MEPS. For group 3, spontaneous MEPS recovery despite the lack of surgical intervention suggests that anesthetic intervention may play a role in this process. However, spontaneous MEPS recovery was also seen in group 4, suggesting that in certain circumstances, both surgical and anesthetic intervention was not required. In addition, neither the duration of time to the first surgical manoeuver nor the duration of surgical manoeuver to MEPS were related to recovery of MEPS. None of the patients had suppression of SSEPs intraoperatively. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that in susceptible individuals, MEPS may rarely occur unpredictably, independent of surgical or anesthetic intervention. However, our findings favor anesthetic before surgical intervention as a proposed protocol. Early recognition of MEPS is important to prevent false positives in the course of IOM for spinal surgery.

Role of spinal inhibitory mechanisms in whiplash injuries.

Whiplash injury, commonly encountered in road traffic accidents, is a major cause of morbidity. Its pathophysiology is not well understood, and diagnosis remains clinical. Imaging and electrophysiological methods have not provided objective diagnostic evidence. Availability of a sensitive and specific diagnostic method would be of high clinical interest. We studied 20 consecutive patients with chronic whiplash injury. Despite persistent symptoms, most had minimal neurological findings. Cutaneous silent period (CSP), a nociceptive spinal inhibitory electromyographic reflex, showed 90% sensitivity and 90% specificity for its diagnosis. In contrast, only two patients (10%) had abnormal transcranial magnetic stimulation findings, and another two (10%) showed abnormal electromyography. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed cervical cord abnormalities in only two of 20 (10%) patients. None of the patients had abnormal somatosensory evoked potential studies. Our findings suggest that neurological dysfunction of whiplash may occur at several possible spinal cord localities in the CSP functional pathway. The use of this simple, quick, and sensitive method is advocated in the diagnostic work up of whiplash injury.

Sensitivities of sensory nerve conduction study parameters in carpal tunnel syndrome.

It is generally accepted that median sensory nerve conduction studies are more sensitive than motor nerve conduction studies in the electrodiagnostic evidence of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). This study was conducted to compare the sensitivities of various parameters of sensory nerve conduction studies in the diagnosis of CTS. This prospective study included 88 consecutive patients (151 hands) with CTS and 106 control subjects. CTS was diagnosed clinically by two neurologists. Median sensory nerve responses with wrist stimulation were determined. The onset and peak latencies, peak-to-peak amplitudes, negative peak duration, and area were measured. The differences between the peak and onset latencies were also calculated as a measure of waveform temporal dispersion. Among each measured parameter, values between the 2.5th and the 97.5th percentile range of the control subjects served as the normal limits. Among the 151 hands with suspected CTS, five (3.3%) had normal electrodiagnostic studies and 146 (96.7%) had at least one abnormal electrodiagnostic study. Among the 146 hands with an abnormality, 138 had abnormal onset latency, 143 had abnormal peak latency, and 88 had abnormal difference between peak and onset latency. In addition, 87 had abnormal amplitude, 70 had abnormal duration, and 59 had abnormal area. The sensitivity was 91.4% for onset latency, 94.7% for peak latency, 58.3% for difference between peak and onset latency, 57.6% for amplitude, 46.4% for duration, and 39.1% for area. Our study shows that in patients with CTS, the most sensitive sensory nerve conduction parameter is the peak latency. Studying various additional sensory nerve conduction parameters did not significantly increase the diagnostic yield.

Effect of exercise on repetitive nerve stimulation studies: new appraisal of an old technique.

Repetitive nerve stimulation (RNS) is a simple and rapid method for evaluation of neuromuscular transmission defects. Although the effect of exercise in conjunction with RNS is well recognized, it has not been standardized in actual patient and control groups. In a prospective study over a period of 1 year, the authors evaluated the effect of exercise in conjunction with RNS in comparison with conventional 3-Hz RNS at rest in the clinical setting. Fifty-four patients who were referred for possible neuromuscular transmission disorders, in addition to 35 healthy control subjects, were studied. Amplitude and area decremental responses with RNS at rest and after 20 seconds of maximal exercise at 1-minute intervals up to 3 minutes were evaluated. The use of RNS with exercise resulted in additional diagnostic yield of up to 36.4% compared with conventional 3-Hz RNS at rest. The standardized use of exercise with RNS is advocated for increasing its diagnostic yield in the neurophysiologic laboratory.

Motor root conduction block in the Lewis-Sumner syndrome.

BACKGROUND: The Lewis-Sumner syndrome (LSS) is a rare immune-mediated peripheral nerve disorder presenting with asymmetric upper limb sensory complaints and motor weakness. Asian patients with LSS have not been reported in the English literature. METHODS: Three Asian patients with features of LSS were prospectively studied. RESULTS: Our patients tended to older, female, and have involvement of the upper limbs exclusively than those in the West. They have a markedly longer disease duration before a diagnosis was made, which could also be the result of difficulty in eliciting motor root conduction block as a sign of proximal demyelination as observed in every patient. Pain is a universal feature as is sensory nerve conduction abnormality. None responded to immunotherapy, but disease stabilization was observed over the chronic course. CONCLUSIONS: Although rare, these unique observations in Asian patients with LSS differ from those reported in Western literature. The presence of motor root conduction block demonstrated for the first time is instrumental in establishing a diagnosis.

Pectoral nerve conduction studies: technique in healthy subjects and evaluation of brachial plexopathy.

OBJECTIVE: To define the optimal nerve conduction study (NCS) technique of the pectoral nerves and evaluate its clinical utility. DESIGN: Prospective electrophysiologic study with healthy controls. SETTING: Electrophysiologic laboratory in a large general hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty healthy controls and 10 patients with cervical root or brachial plexus pathologies. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Correlation of pectoral NCS with electromyography and magnetic resonance imaging. RESULTS: For pectoral NCS, the mean values +/- standard deviation of onset latency, amplitude, and interside amplitude ratio (ratio of smaller over larger amplitude) were 2.01+/-0.22 ms, 11.75+/-2.21 mV, and .95+/-.04 mV, respectively. Subject age correlated significantly with both onset latency (r=.46, P<.001) and amplitude (r=-.34, P<.008). All 5 patients with brachial plexopathy had amplitude ratios below the normal limit of controls (.87). However, this was not seen for all 5 patients with cervical spondylotic radiculopathy. CONCLUSIONS: The pectoral NCS technique is feasible in healthy subjects. It is useful when differentiating brachial plexopathy from cervical root lesions.