title: Tendon-reflex testing in chronic demyelinating polyneuropathy.
abstract: We studied the tendon reflex (T-reflex) in 26 patients with acquired chronic demyelinating polyneuropathy (CDN), including 22 with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP). In 7 patients reflexes were brisk or normal on clinical testing. The height adjusted T-reflex was abnormal in 25 (96%) cases, including 6 of 7 patients with brisk or normal reflexes on clinical testing. Mean latency (P < 0.01) and duration (P < 0.05) of the ankle and patellar tendon reflexes were significantly prolonged in the CIDP patients when compared to the controls. Mean latency in the CIDP patients was 152% of normal means. In 7 CIDP patients, the T-reflex latencies were prolonged beyond 150% of normal means. Thus, the T-reflex test is abnormal in a majority of patients with CDN, even in the presence of well-preserved clinical reflexes, and the T-reflex latency is a useful indicator of the presence of a demyelinating peripheral neuropathy in some patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Veterans Administration Medical Center 35294.
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Kuruoglu
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Oh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000842:Ankle; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003711:Demyelinating Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006181:H-Reflex; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009431:Neural Conduction; D010329:Patella; D011930:Reaction Time; D012016:Reference Values; D012026:Reflex, Stretch; D012678:Sensation Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D013497:Sural Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology; D013979:Tibial Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology