title: Diazepam improves recording of lumbar and neck somatosensory evoked potentials.
abstract: To determine whether the decrease in muscle artifact provided by diazepam is of sufficient clinical value to justify its use, somatosensory evoked potentials recorded in examinations of 73 consecutive patients were compared with those recorded from 33 subsequent patients who were given 10 mg of diazepam orally just before the examination. With diazepam pretreatment there was clear improvement in the quality of lumbar and neck recordings--increased reproducibility and definition and ease of measurement--and also greater tolerance of the procedure and a slight shortening of time required for the test.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota 55905.
authors.forename: F E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Pfeiffer
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Peterson
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Daube
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003975:Diazepam / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004576:Electromyography; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D008161:Lumbosacral Region; D008875:Middle Aged; D009333:Neck; D011292:Premedication; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D003975:Diazepam