Physiological effects of selective tibial neurotomy on lower limb spasticity.

Objectives: To assess by electrophysiology the effect of tibial selective neurotomy on muscle imbalance of the spastic ankle.

Method: The amplitudes of the H reflexes, M responses (muscle contractions recorded after stimulation of the tibial nerve), and Hmax:Mmax ratio were recorded in 12 patients with chronic lower limb spasticity, before and one month after tibial selective neurotomy. Recordings were done on medial and lateral gastrocnemius and soleus muscles.

Assessment of sympathetic nerve activity in the practice of lumbar sympatholysis: interest of sympathetic skin responses.

The place of lumbar sympathectomy in the treatment of occlusive arterial disease of the lower limbs remains controversial. An adequate assessment of sympathetic nerve function in the practice of sympathectomy may reduce unsatisfactory results of this procedure. We report a series of 25 lumbar sympatholyses indicated for claudication, rest pain or distal arterial ulcer, and attempted by means of phenol injection in sympathetic ganglia under tomographic guidance.

Turns-amplitude analysis assessment of myopathies in HIV-infected patients.

Electromyographic interference patterns during a gradual increase in force were studied by means of the turns-amplitude analysis in a series of HIV-infected patients with and without clinical, biological and histological signs of myopathy. Different parameters were evaluated to determine their sensitivity for the diagnosis of the myopathies that occur in this context. The studied parameters were the number of turns (NT), the mean amplitude of the turns (MA) and the ratio NT/MA (RTA).

Dermatomyositis without muscle weakness. Long-term follow-up of 12 patients without systemic corticosteroids.

Background And Design: We retrospectively studied 12 patients with dermatomyositis (DM) with at least one laboratory criterion of muscle involvement but without muscle weakness. We reported their outcome without systemic corticosteroid treatment and searched for distinctive baseline data and associated neoplasia among a group of 29 patients with classic DM.

Results: After a mean follow-up of 5.

Fuzzy classification of patient state with application to electrodiagnosis of peripheral polyneuropathy.

A methodology which accounts for uncertainty or imprecision in experimental observations and both norm and pathology definitions is developed on the basis of a distance measure between fuzzy numbers. These fuzzy numbers may represent, respectively, the measurements, norm, and pathology. The distance measure, called normalized fuzzy pathology index (NFPI), evaluates the difference of distance between observed experimental values for a given patient and norm on the one hand, and pathology on the other hand.

Thalidomide neuropathy incidence and clinico-electrophysiologic findings in 42 patients.

Background And Design: Thalidomide therapy was shown to be effective in numerous dermatologic diseases. As reliable methods of contraception are now available, neurotoxicity has become the most important side effect limiting the use of thalidomide. The incidence of this neuropathy and its relationship to thalidomide doses are still matters of debate.

Bayesian statistics as applied to multiple sclerosis diagnosis by evoked potentials.

This study deals with the multiple sclerosis diagnosis by visual, somatosensory and brain stem auditory evoked potentials. By a statistical investigation of experimental data, four items have been selected as being both discriminative and independent: P100, N20, P40 latencies and the auditory central conduction time. The Bayesian approach was then attempted, i.

Organic arsenic-induced Guillain-Barré-like syndrome due to melarsoprol: a clinical, electrophysiological, and pathological study.

A young woman suffering from sleeping sickness was treated with melarsoprol. Thirty-eight days after the first administration of this organo-arsenic compound, myalgias, distal paresthesias and rapidly progressive weakness developed in all four limbs. Electrophysiological studies were misleading for Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Factors related to the electric taste threshold in type 1 diabetic patients.

To specify the factors related to taste function in Type 1 diabetes mellitus, 50 diabetic out-patients and 50 control subjects paired for age and sex were screened for taste disorders. None of them consumed significant amounts of alcohol, smoked, or had disease or took drugs capable of altering taste. Taste was studied with electrogustometry, retinopathy was detected by fluorescein angiography, nephropathy by measurement of albuminuria and microalbuminuria, peripheral neuropathy by electroneurography and electromyography, and autonomic neuropathy by cardiovascular function tests.

Somatosensory evoked potentials from median nerve; normative data.

The somatosensory evoked potentials from median nerve were studied in a group of 127 normal adults aged from 19 to 79. The latencies of elbow, Erb's, cervical N11 and N13 as well as cortical N20 and P25 potentials were analyzed as a function of height and age. Two central conduction times, N20-N11 and N20-N13, were equally studied.

Somatosensory evoked potentials from posterior tibial nerve; normative data.

The somatosensory evoked potentials from posterior tibial nerve were studied in a group of normal adults. The latencies of popliteal fossa potential, L3, N33 and P40 waves as well as central conduction time were analyzed as a function of height and age. The correlation of the peripheral conduction velocity with the subject's age was also studied.

[Effect of marathons on neuromuscular excitability; comparison of electromyographic and biochemical findings].

The aim of this paper is to study the neuromuscular excitability of a group of marathon runners and to see how it can be modified right after the marathon. Spontaneously appearing multiplets in EMG signal under ischaemia served as a test of the neuromuscular hyperexcitability. The percentage of positive tests is much higher than in the control population; as a rule, the effect of the marathon is to diminish the neuromuscular hyperexcitability.

Asterixis in focal brain lesions.

Asterixis was observed in 20 cases of focal brain lesions. Metabolic or toxic factors were excluded. An electromyogram study of asterixis was carried out in nine cases to establish the diagnosis.

[Electromyography and AH/8165 in man].

This article concerns the electromyographical study of a synthetic curare derived from Azobis Arylimidazo (1-2a) Pyridinium (AH/8165) with a simultaneous recording of the spontaneous diaphragmatic activity and "testing" of the neuro-muscular transmission at the level of a peripheral muscle. This study shows that AH/8165 is a powerful non-depolirizing curarimimetic drug that quickly induces a neuro-muscular block at the level of the diaphragm and the peripheric muscles that can be reversed by anticholinesterasic drugs. Its reaction time is short (about 1 mn).