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Contribution of changes in click rate and intensity on diagnosis of multiple sclerosis by brainstem auditory evoked potentials
Author(s) -
Elidan Joseph,
Sohmer Haim,
Gafni Michal,
Kahana Estherafni
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
acta neurologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.967
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1600-0404
pISSN - 0001-6314
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0404.1982.tb03111.x
Subject(s) - brainstem , audiology , audiogram , multiple sclerosis , brainstem auditory evoked potential , stimulus (psychology) , intensity (physics) , medicine , abnormality , psychology , hearing loss , physics , quantum mechanics , psychiatry , psychotherapist
Brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) were recorded in 51 patients with different degrees of certainty with respect to multiple sclerosis (MS): Definite, probable and possible ( McAlpine et al. 1972). Click stimuli were presented at various intensities and rates which were thought to stress the auditory pathways. The main types of abnormal BAEP traces were the absence of some of the brainstem waves (in the presence of a normal audiogram), prolonged brainstem transmission time (BTT) and abnormal amplitude ratio. In the definite MS group, average BTT was prolonged and average amplitude ratio was more than two standard deviations greater than the corresponding parameter in the normal group. The stressful manoeuvres of increasing click repetition rate and lowering click intensity increased the degree of abnormality of BAEP traces. There was no case in which the response to standard click stimuli (75 dB HL, 10 or 20 per sec) showed a normal trace while increasing the stimulus repetition rate and/or decreasing intensity showed a pathological response. The pathophysiology of BAEP traces in MS is discussed.