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Maximal and minimal motor nerve conduction velocities in patients with motor neuron diseases: Correlation with age of onset and duration of illness
Author(s) -
Iijima Masakazu,
Arasaki Keisuke,
Iwamoto Hiroyuki,
Nakanishi Takao
Publication year - 1991
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.880141112
Subject(s) - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , sma* , medicine , ulnar nerve , motor neuron , nerve conduction velocity , spinal muscular atrophy , motor nerve , f wave , cardiology , age of onset , nerve conduction study , anatomy , disease , nerve conduction , mathematics , combinatorics , elbow
We measured the maximal and minimal motor nerve conduction velocities of the ulnar nerve in 17 patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), 27 patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and 40 age‐matched control subjects. Crude values of the maximal and minimal motor nerve conduction velocities were reduced in both patient groups, but their difference in each patient was not statistically different from that of a control subject. The conduction velocities adjusted according to each patient's age were faster in SMA patients than in ALS patients. Among patients with either ALS or SMA, the age‐adjusted conduction velocities were larger in those who had developed the disease at younger ages and suffered from it for shorter periods of time. These findings suggest that the motor nerve fibers regenerate more in younger patients in the early stages of the disease, particularly in SMA.