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Discharge patterns of spontaneous activity and motor units on concentric needle electromyography
Author(s) -
SchulteMattler Wilhelm J.,
Georgiadis Dimitrios,
Zierz Stephan
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
muscle and nerve
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.025
H-Index - 145
eISSN - 1097-4598
pISSN - 0148-639X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-4598(200101)24:1<123::aid-mus18>3.0.co;2-v
Subject(s) - electromyography , concentric , motor unit , pathological , medicine , anatomy , physical medicine and rehabilitation , mathematics , geometry
We analyzed discharge patterns in electromyograms of 6 patients with complete nerve lesions and of 26 healthy subjects, in order to better differentiate between pathological and physiological spontaneous electromyographic (EMG) activity. Within 1639 trains of action potentials, the intervals between at least five successive discharges were measured. Discharge regularity was evaluated with three different algorithms. At 99% specificity, an abnormal discharge pattern was identified with 91 to 95% sensitivity, depending on the algorithm used. Analysis of as few as four successive interdischarge intervals allowed reliable differentiation between normal and pathological spontaneous EMG activity. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Muscle Nerve 24: 123–126, 2001