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Diazepam improves recording of lumbar and neck somatosensory evoked potentials
Author(s) -
Pfeiffer Frederick E.,
Peterson LaVonne,
Daube Jasper R.
Publication year - 1989
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/mus.880120607
Subject(s) - diazepam , medicine , somatosensory system , somatosensory evoked potential , reproducibility , anesthesia , lumbar , electromyography , physical medicine and rehabilitation , anatomy , chemistry , chromatography , psychiatry
To determine whether the decrease in muscle artifact provided by diazepam is of sufficient clinical value to justify its use, somatosensory evoked potentials recorded in examinations of 73 consecutive patients were compared with those recorded from 33 subsequent patients who were given 10 mg of diazepam orally just before the examination. With diazepam pretreatment there was clear improvement in the quality of lumbar and neck recordings—increased reproducibility and definition and ease of measurement— and also greater tolerance of the procedure and a slight shortening of time required for the test.