Recovery of somatosensory deficits in acute stroke.
OBJECTIVE
To study the recovery of somatosensory deficits after acute stroke.


METHODS
A detailed clinical examination of sensation, median nerve somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP), quantitative sensory tests (QST), and subjective evaluation were performed in five acute stroke patients at three control time points up to 12 months after the stroke.


RESULTS
The deficit recovered at least partially in all patients, mostly within 3 months after stroke. The improvement in warm and vibration detection thresholds occurred between 3 and 12 months. The SEP improved both by 3 and 12 months.


CONCLUSIONS
The recovery of subjective sensory disturbance occurred in line with the improvement of the clinical sensory tests and QST. The most sensitive measure for somatosensory dysfunction at the early phase was graphesthesia. In our patients, initially normal SEP with a sensory deficit resulted in excellent clinical recovery, whereas initially absent SEP did not necessarily predict poor outcome.
Julkunen
L
L
Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Turku, Turku, Finland. laura.julkunen@utu.fi
Tenovuo
O
O
Jääskeläinen
S K
SK
Hämäläinen
H
H
D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008475:Median Nerve / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009431:Neural Conduction / Q000502:physiology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology*; D012684:Sensory Thresholds / Q000502:physiology; D020886:Somatosensory Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D020521:Stroke / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D013697:Thermosensing / Q000502:physiology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology