title: Nerve conduction velocity to different muscles in peroneal pressure neuropathy.
abstract: The variability inherent in nerve conduction velocity (NCV) studies suggests that multiple measurements may yield more information than a single measurement. To test this hypothesis, three motor nerve conduction velocities (NCVs) of the peroneal nerve were measured: to the extensor digitorum brevis muscle over the fibular head and in the lower leg, and to the tibialis anterior muscle over the fibular head. Three groups were studied: controls, polyneuropathy cases and peroneal pressure neuropathy cases. Over the fibular head, NCVs recorded from the tibialis anterior were consistently higher than those from the extensor digitorum brevis, and showed a higher number of abnormalities. Differences between NCVs, their Z-scores and Mahalanobis distances were compared to study the influence of variance differences and covariances. The best compromise between true and false positives was found to be a comparison between NCVs over the fibular head recorded from the tibialis anterior and the leg segment recorded from the extensor digitorum muscle. Z-scores are more useful than Mahalanobis distances in this respect.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Leiden University Hospital, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: van Dijk
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Reenalda
authors.forename: E L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Bollen
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: den Heijer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004576:Electromyography; D005360:Fibula; D006801:Humans; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D009132:Muscles / Q000503:physiopathology; D009431:Neural Conduction / Q000502:physiology*; D010523:Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology; D010543:Peroneal Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011312:Pressure; D011930:Reaction Time; D013126:Spinal Nerve Roots / Q000503:physiopathology; D013977:Tibia