• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• 제19권1호
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• pp.28-33
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• 2017

Background: Previous studies of radial nerve conduction study (NCS) did not present how to measure the length of the radial nerve across the elbow, and did not even mention how to manage the spiral course of the nerve. This study aimed to applicate the most reliable method to measure the length of the radial nerve during NCS. Methods: Three points (A, B, and C) were determined along the relatively straight course of the radial nerve. The distance was measured using three different methods: L1) straight distance corresponding to the A-C distance, L2) sum of the distances corresponding to the A-B-C distance, L3) based on the L2, but the elbow is flexed at a $45^{\circ}$ angle. We compared the three methods of distance measurement and the calculated nerve conduction velocities (V1, V2, and V3) in normal healthy subjects. Results: 19 normal participants were enrolled. The mean value for method L1, L2 and L3 were $22.5{\pm}1.8cm$, $24.0{\pm}2.1cm$, and $23.2{\pm}2.1cm$ (p < 0.001). Calculated conduction velocities using those distance measurement methods as follows (p < 0.001): V1 ($60.9{\pm}2.7m/s$), V2 ($64.6{\pm}3.3m/s$), and V3 ($63.4{\pm}3.9m/s$). V2 was significantly greater than V1 and V3 (p < 0.001, p = 0.010, respectively). Conclusions: The distance measurement using a stopover point near the lateral epicondyle between two stimulus points in position of a fully extended elbow with forearm pronation is the most appropriate posture for radial motor NCS.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• 제7권2호
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• pp.130-132
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• 2005

Isolated posterior antebrachial cutaneous (PABC) neuropathy is rare. A 62 year-old man presented with hypesthesia over the skin region of PABC nerve territory after an injection at the proximal to the lateral epicondyle. Antidromic sensory nerve conduction studies of PABC nerve was not evoked on the affected side. Our case showed that sensory nerve conduction of PABC nerve can be performed without much difficulty and that this test is useful in confirming PABC neuropathy.

• 대한임상검사과학회지
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• 제37권3호
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• pp.212-215
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• 2005

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common entrapment neuropathy in clinical practice, with a 0.1% life time risk in the general population. Conventional neurophysiological studies have been useful in the diagnosis of this condition, as have a number of more specialized procedures. Therefore, we evaluated the diagnostic sensitivities of several parameters in nerve conduction technique for CTS patients. We analyzed 100 patients (159 hands) who were diagnosed with CTS clinically and electrophysiolosically. Median motor and sensory nerve conduction velocities (MCV and SCV) with wrist, palm, and finger stimulation were performed in traditional methods. Sensitivities of each test were calculated and compared to normal control data. The sensitivities of existing nerve conduction method were noted in terminal latency on median nerve, 2nd finger-wrist segment, 3rd finger-wrist segment, palm-wrist segment and distoproximal ratio, as 72.96%, 92.45%, 94.34%, 94.97%, and 97.48%, respectively. In the early course of CTS, sensory nerve conductions in the median nerve are more valuable than motor nerve conduction. Sensory nerve conductions are usually affected before motor nerve conductions in CTS. In this study, we detected that slowing of median SCV was the most frequent in the distoproximal ratio.

• 대한임상검사과학회지
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• 제56권2호
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• pp.156-162
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• 2024

신경전도검사는 말초신경의 기능을 객관적으로 정량화 할 수 있어 말초신경병의 진단 및 추적관찰에 필수적인 검사로 활용된다. 신경전도검사는 여러 생리학적 요인에 의해 영향을 받으며, 현재 미국 신경근 및 전기진단 의학 협회(American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnosis Medicine)에서는 신경전도 표준화 사업(Normative Data Task Force, NDTF)을 구성하여 정상치를 제시하고 있으나, 그 수가 불충분하다. 현재 한국인을 대상으로 한 신장과 다리길이에 따른 신경전도속도를 함께 비교 및 상관관계를 조사한 연구가 존재하지 않아 본 연구를 통해 신장과 다리길이에 따른 하지 신경전도속도를 비교하고자 한다. 총 49명의 대상자를 모집하였으며, 키와 다리길이에 따른 운동신경전도검사와 감각신경전도검사를 비교한 결과, 키에 따른 양측 종아리신경 운동신경전도속도 및 좌측 정강신경의 운동신경전도속도 모두 통계적으로 유의한음의 상관관계를 보였으며, 다리길이에 따른 양측 얕은종아리신경 감각신경전도속도 및 양측 장딴지신경의 감각신경전도속도 모두 통계적으로 유의한 음의 상관관계를 보였다. 하지만 NDTF에서는 연령을 나누어 제시되는 것에 반해 이번 연구에서는 모든 대상자가 20대의 성인으로, 다양한 연령의 한국인을 대상으로 추가적인 연구를 통해 키와 다리길이에 따른 신경전도속도를 보다 정확하게 관찰할 수 있을 것으로 예상된다.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• 제5권1호
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• pp.1-10
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• 2003

Small-fiber neuropathy (SFN) is a common clinical problems. The disorder is a generalized peripheral polyneuropathy that selectively involves small-diameter myelinated and unmyelinated nerve fibers. It is often idiopathic and typically presents with painful feet in patients over the age of 60. And autoimmune mechanisms are often suspected, but rarely identified. The clinical features consisted of painful dysesthesias and postganglionic sympathetic dysfunction, as well as reduced pinprick and temperature sensation. Although affected patients complain of neuropathic pain, this condition is often difficult to diagnose because of the few objective physical signs and normal nerve conduction studies. Diagnosis of SFN is made on the basis of the clinical features, normal nerve conduction studies, and abnormal specialized tests of small fiber function. These specialized studies include assessment of epidermal nerve fiber density as well as sudomotor, quantitative sensory, and cardiovagal testing. Unless an underlying disease is identified, treatment is usually directed toward alleviation of neuropathic pain.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• 제20권2호
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• pp.71-78
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• 2018

Nerve conduction study (NCS) is an electrophysiological tool to assess the overall function of cranial and peripheral nervous system, therefore NCS has been diagnostically helpful in the identification and characterization of disorders involving nerve roots, peripheral nerves, muscle and neuromuscular junction, and are frequently accompanied by a needle Electromyography. Furthermore, NCS could provide valuable quantitative and qualitative results into neuromuscular function. Usually, motor, sensory, or mixed nerve studies can be performed with using NCS, stimulating the nerves with the recording electrodes placed over a distal muscle, a cutaneous sensory nerve, or the entire mixed nerve, respectively. And these findings of motor, sensory, and mixed nerve studies often show different and distinct patterns of specific abnormalities indicating the neuromuscular disorders. The purpose of this special article is to review the neurophysiologic usefulness of NCS, to outline the technical factors associated with the performance of NCS, and to demonstrate characteristic NCS changes in the setting of various neuromuscular conditions.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• 제8권2호
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• pp.125-134
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• 2006

Among the various physiological factors that affect nerve conduction velocity (NCV), temperature is the most important. Because the influence of temperature is the most important source of error. It is known from animal experiments that conduction is eventually completely blocked at low temperatures, the myelinated A fibers being the first affected and the thin fibers of group C the last. Many studies showed that the NCV decreases linearly with lowering temperature within the physiological range. The distal motor latency increased by $0.2msec/^{\circ}C$ drop in temperature between $25^{\circ}C$and $35^{\circ}C$ in the median, ulnar and peroneal nerves. The temperature affect the neuromuscular transmission; The miniature endplate potential (MEPP) and endplate potential (EPP) are increase with increasing temperature. In myasthenia gravis, the reduction in the decremental response is observed following cooling. The lowering temperature make increase the amplitude of sensory compound action potential; make enlarge the surface area of compound muscle action potential with very little increase in amplitude; make diminish the fibrillation potential and increase the myotonia in needle electromyography (EMG). Because of these findings mentioned above, the skin temperature should be routinely monitored and controlled during nerve conduction tests and needle EMG and should be taken into account when interpreting the findings.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• 제20권2호
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• pp.66-70
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• 2018

Electrodiagnostic studies such as nerve conduction studies (NCS) and needle electromyography (EMG) provide important and complementary information for evaluating patients with suspected neuromuscular disorders. NCS and needle EMG are reasonably safe diagnostic investigations and are generally associated with only mild transient discomfort when performed by experienced physicians. However, there is the risk of complications in some patients, because NCS involve the administration of electric current and EMG involves inserting a needle percutaneously into muscle tissue. This article reviews the potential risks of NCS and needle EMG.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• 제6권1호
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• pp.14-19
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• 2004

Backgrounds and objectives: POEMS (polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, M protein, and skin changes) syndrome is the rare cause of polyneuropathy. Although the polyneuropathy is essential for the diagnosis of the disease, the pattern of electrodiagnostic abnormalities has not been characterized in detail. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the features of nerve conduction abnormalities in POEMS syndrome. Methods: We reviewed the medical records and nerve conduction studies (NCS) of 12 consecutive patients with POEMS. Results: A total of 68 motor and 46 sensory nerves were examined. Compound muscle action potentials (CMAPs) and sensory nerve action potentials were abnormally attenuated or not elicited in majority of motor and sensory nerves (80.88% in motor, and 82.6% in sensory nerves). Frequency of the nerves with no potential was significantly higher in lower limbs than in upper limbs (p<0.01 in both motor and sensory nerves), and CMAP amplitude was more reduced in lower limbs than in upper limbs (p<0.01). Conduction slowing was very frequently observed with 95% and 76% of motor and sensory nerves, respectively, having the abnormally reduced values of conduction velocity. Distal motor latencies were abnormally prolonged in 75% of motor nerves, and terminal latency indices were significantly higher in patients than in normal controls (p < 0.05). Conduction block was observed only in 5% of motor nerves. Conclusions: NCS in POEMS syndrome showed characteristic patterns, in which conduction abnormalities were more frequently and severely affected in the lower limbs, and more predominantly in the intermediate nerve segments than in the distal portions. The recognition of these characteristic patterns may be helpful in early diagnosis of polyneuropathy in POEMS syndrome.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• 제10권1호
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• pp.29-32
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• 2008

Although various criteria on the diagnosis of diabetic neuropathy are applied from trial to trial, being tailored in concert with its purpose, the utmost evidences of the diagnosis are subjective symptoms and objective signs of neurologic deficit. The application and interpretation of auxiliary electrophysiological test including nerve conduction study (NCS) should be made on the context of clinical pictures. The evaluation of the functions of small, thinly myelinated or unmyelinated nerve fibers has been increasingly stressed recently with the advent of newer techniques, e.g., measurement of intraepidermal fiber density, quantitative sensory testing, and autonomic function test. And the studies with those techniques have shed light to the nature of the evolution of diabetic neuropathy. The practical application of these techniques to the diagnosis of diabetic neuropathy in the individual patients, however, should be made cautiously due to several shortcomings: limited accessibility, wide overlapping zone between norm and abnormality with resultant unsatisfactory sensitivity and specificity, difficulty in performing subsequent tests, unproven quantitative correlation with clinical deficit, and invasiveness of some technique. NCS, as an extension of clinical examination, is still the most reliable electrophysiological test in evaluating neuropathy and gives the invaluable information about the nature of neuropathy, whereas the newer techniques need more refinement of the procedure and interpretation, and the accumulation of large scaled data of application to be considered as established diagnostic tools of peripheral neuropathy.