Multi-MUP EMG analysis in clinical routine.
A new quantitative motor unit potential (MUP) analysis method, called Multi-MUP analysis, is described. Multi-MUP analysis is a type of decomposition analysis of the EMG signal. At each recording site six different MUPs may be recorded during an epoch of 4.8 sec. A study of 20-30 MUPs including editing takes 3-7 minutes. Compared to many other MUP analysis methods it is faster and more user friendly, therefore it can be used in daily routine EMG analysis. The differences to methods based on manual analysis, spike-triggered averaging, template matching and decomposition are discussed. The main advantages of Multi-MUP analysis are: (1) quick acquisition of many MUPs; (2) simultaneous collection of several MUPs at one recording site; (3) possibility to analyze not only low threshold MUPs; (4) less bias in the selection of MUPs and (5) the reproducibility of the results that allow the same reference values to be used in different laboratories. So far we have successfully used this method in clinical routine for four years on more than five thousand patients.
Falck
B
B
Department of Clinical Neurophysiology University Hospital Uppsala, Sweden.
Stålberg
E
E
Stålberg
S
S
Aström
M
M
D004576:Electromyography / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans