Influence of the true number of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin instillations on the prognosis of non-muscle invasive bladder tumors.

Objectives: To analyze if the true number of BCG instillations applied in non-muscle invasive bladder tumors has any influence on their prognosis as well as other tumor and clinical characteristics: age, sex, different protocols, BCG dose, whether primary or recurrent, solitary or multiple, tumor size G3 or Cis.

Patients And Methods: A total of 324 high grade NMIBC (15 TaG3, 184 T1G3, 125 Cis) out of 1491 cases included in the CUETO database were analyzed. Following 6 post transurethral resection (RTU) BCG instillations, the patients were scheduled to receive one instillation every two weeks (3-6 times), for a total of 9-12 instillations.

Follow-up study after replantation of the forearm and nerves resuture.

Objective: Clinical and electrophysiological evolution after total section of the forearm and nerves resuture.

Material And Methods: A young boy aged 14 years with accidental amputation of the right forearm. The forearm was replanted within the first 6 hours after accident.

Single fiber electromyography (SFEMG) in mitochondrial diseases (MD).

Conventional EMG, nerve conduction studies and SFEMG were performed in 18 patients with various phenotypes of MD. 14 cases showed findings consistent with mild myopathy, 2 patients signs of sensory-motor axonal neuropathy and 2 cases a mixture of myopathy and axonal neuropathy. Motor unit fiber density was mild increased in 8 out of 13 tested cases.

Neuralgic amyotrophy: variable expression in 40 patients.

This study looks at disease diversity, location of lesions, and progression of neuralgic amyotrophy (NA). Forty patients (28 male and 12 female, age range 15 to 70 years) were clinically examined. Muscle atrophy, weakness, and sensory impairment were assessed.

Reinnervation of dystrophic muscles.

Objective: To analyse the regenerating capability of the peripheral nerve fibers and the capability of the muscle fibers to accept the regenerating and new nerve sprouts in myotonic dystrophy (MD).

Material And Methods: One male, aged 58 years, diagnosed of MD at the age of 30 years, suffered neuralgic amyotrophy in the right shoulder girdle 4 weeks before admission. Needle EMG and nerve conduction studies were performed on admission and 6, 12, and 18 months later.

Electrophysiological assessment in neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome.

Objectives: To evaluate the value of different electrophysiological techniques in the diagnosis of neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS).

Materials And Methods: Two females, aged 22 and 30 years, with progressive weakness and wasting of the right hand with slight sensory disturbances. Needle EMG, motor and sensory conduction along median and ulnar nerves, sensory conduction of medial (MACN) and lateral (LACN) antebrachial cutaneous nerves.

Peroneal neuropathy after weight loss.

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the clinical and electrophysiological findings in peroneal mononeuropathies following a weight-reduction diet. Thirty patients with acute peroneal palsy and weight loss were studied. Complete nerve conduction studies (NCS) were performed in upper and lower limbs.

Phrenic nerve conduction study in demyelinating neuropathies and open-heart surgery.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine normal values of phrenic nerve conduction (PNC) in healthy individuals; to evaluate the subclinical extent of phrenic nerve involvement in Guillain-Barré syndrome (G-B) and hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy-I (HMSN-I), and to evaluate phrenic nerve damage after cardiac surgery.

Materials And Methods: PNC was performed by transcutaneous stimulation in the neck and recording the diaphragmatic potential from surface electrodes placed at the seventh and eight intercostal spaces. PNC was performed bilaterally in 25 healthy volunteers and 25 patients before and after open-heart surgery.

Quadriceps atrophy after knee traumatisms and immobilization: electrophysiological assessment.

Automatic analysis of EMG (T/A analysis) and invasive muscle fiber conduction velocity in situ (MFCV) were performed in 15 patients after traumatic lesions of the knee and immobilization with quadriceps atrophy. T/A analysis showed transient reduced number of turns, consistent with inhibition of quadriceps motoneurons, that recovered within the first 2 weeks after the plaster cast had been removed. MFCV was significantly slowed and showed a gradual improvement, reaching normal values after 6 weeks.

Motor hand recovery after stroke. Prognostic yield of early transcranial magnetic stimulation.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was performed in 20 patients within the first days after stroke. Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were bilaterally recorded over thenar eminence muscles, and central motor conduction time (CMCT), amplitude of the MEPs (A%M) and threshold intensity compared between both sides. Six months later the patients were reexamined.

Muscle fiber conduction velocity in situ (MFCV) in denervation, reinnervation and disuse atrophy.

Objectives: Muscle fiber conduction velocity (MFCV) was performed in disuse atrophy, in denervated muscle and during reinnervation as a possible index of muscle atrophy, and to clarify the evolution of the fiber size.

Material And Methods: MFCV was performed in 12 patients with complete denervation of biceps brachii muscle and during various stages of reinnervation. Twenty-one patients with disuse quadriceps atrophy were also tested.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation in amyotrophic and primary lateral sclerosis.

Conduction of the central motor pathways after transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was investigated in 7 patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and 1 case with primary lateral sclerosis (PLS). Threshold intensity, central motor conduction time (CMCT) and amplitude of the motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were evaluated. Threshold was abnormal in 85% of tested limbs, and CMCT prolonged and amplitude of the MEPs attenuated in 28.

Carpal tunnel syndrome in childhood: study of 6 cases.

Six children, 4 girls and two boys, aged 5-14 years, with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) are reported. Median nerve entrapment had different aetiologies in each case. One patient developed unilateral CTS symptoms after intensive basketball training.

The muscle inhibitory period by transcranial magnetic stimulation. Study in stroke patients.

Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) elicited over hand muscles by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) were studied in healthy individuals and, bilaterally, in patients with cerebral infarction. Conduction time of the central motor pathways (CMCT), threshold intensity, and amplitude of the MEPs were correlated with recovery motor hand function after stroke. Following MEPs by TMS during tonic muscle contraction, there is a transient suppression of muscle action.

Central motor conduction time by magnetic stimulation of the cortex and peripheral nerve conduction follow-up studies in Friedreich's ataxia.

A follow-up clinical study, peripheral motor and sensory nerve conduction velocities and central motor conduction by magnetic stimulation of the cortex were performed in 13 patients with classical Friedreich's ataxia (FA) phenotype, for a period of 9-12 years. Clinical worsening was unrelated to peripheral nerve abnormalities. The amplitude of the nerve action potentials and delayed conduction velocity remained unchanged for several years.

Muscle fiber conduction velocity in situ in hypokalemic periodic paralyses.

Objectives: To clarify the diagnostic yield of conduction velocity along muscle fibers in situ (MFCV) in hypokalemic periodic paralyses (HOPPs).

Material And Methods: MFCV of the short head of biceps brachii was performed in 3 subjects with primary HOPP and in another 3 with secondary HOPP.

Results: MFCV was reduced during the recovery period in 2 of the patients with hereditary HOPP and in 3 with secondary hypokalemia due to hyperaldosteronism, diuretics, and renal tubular acidosis.

GAA trinucleotide repeat expansion in variant Friedreich's ataxia families.

Phenotypic variants in Friedreich's ataxia include late onset, preservation of the lower limbs tendon reflexes, and slow progression. We describe clinical and electrophysiological features from three families with Friedreichlike phenotypes. Friedreich's ataxia diagnosis was confirmed by finding two allelic expansions of the GAA trinucleotide repeat at the X25 gene.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation in patients with cerebellar stroke.

Conduction time of the central motor pathways (CMCT) by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was performed within the first two weeks in 7 patients with isolated hemicerebellar lesions after stroke. Cerebellar infarcts were small (< 2 cm in diameter) in 5 patients and no brainstem structure was involved in CT studies. The threshold (3 cases) and CMCT (4 cases) were abnormal or asymmetric by stimulation of the motor cortex contralateral to the impaired hemicerebellum.

Conduction velocity along muscle fibers in situ in myasthenia gravis.

The muscle fiber conduction velocity (MFCV) was tested distally in the short head of the biceps brachii muscle in 4 patients with ocular and 16 cases with generalized Myasthenia Gravis. The mean MFCV was decreased in 6 cases with generalized form of the disease, 2 of them with short evolution of the symptoms and without drugs therapy. The overall MFCV of 644 fibers in generalized MG was significantly decreased (p < 0.