Decremental motor responses to repetitive nerve stimulation in ALS. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Repetitive nerve stimulation (RNS) of the trapezius muscle at slow rates was performed on 192 patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Fifty-six patients (29%) showed classical neuromuscular decrement of 10-43% (mean 16.8%) while 44 patients (23%) had a borderline decrement of 5-9%. The trapezius was significantly more sensitive in revealing the defect than the distal hypothenar muscles. In 30 patients followed serially, the decremental response remained constant or increased with time. However, 25% of patients continued to show no decrement in spite of progression of disease. No statistical correlation was found between decrement and clinical severity, disease staging, or disease progression. The finding that at least 50% of ALS patients show some degree of decrement on RNS of the trapezius muscle suggests that functional alterations of the neuromuscular junction accompany this disease.

publication date

  • July 1, 1994

Research

keywords

  • Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
  • Motor Activity

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 0028357091

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1002/mus.880170708

PubMed ID

  • 8008001

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 17

issue

  • 7