title: Quantitative analysis of the features of fasciculation potentials and their relation with muscle strength in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
abstract: This study aimed to quantitatively analyze fasciculation potentials (FPs) and to investigate their relationship with muscle strength in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Fifty-one patients with sporadic ALS or progressive muscular atrophy (25 men, 26 women, mean age of 68 years) underwent needle EMG. We determined the duration, phase number, and amplitude of FPs from three muscles (upper trapezius, biceps brachii, and tibialis anterior) and examined their relations with muscle strength. In total, 878 FPs were analyzed. FP duration displayed a significant negative relation with the strength of all three muscles; the weaker muscles showed longer durations of FPs than the muscles with normal strength. The amplitude and phase number were not related with muscle strength, but there were significant correlations between the duration and amplitude of FPs in the trapezius and tibialis anterior muscles. The longer duration of FPs in muscles with weak strength suggests that the morphological changes of FPs were caused by temporal dispersion through progressively degenerating and/or immature reinnervating motor branches, and were observed uniformly in different muscles along with disease progression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Tokyo Metropolitan Neurological Hospital, 2-6-1 Musashidai, Fuchu, Tokyo, 183-0042, Japan.|Mental Development Project, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kota
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bokuda
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Tokyo Metropolitan Neurological Hospital, 2-6-1 Musashidai, Fuchu, Tokyo, 183-0042, Japan. toshio_shimizu@tmhp.jp.
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8577-6654
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Tokyo Metropolitan Neurological Hospital, 2-6-1 Musashidai, Fuchu, Tokyo, 183-0042, Japan.
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Tokyo Metropolitan Neurological Hospital, 2-6-1 Musashidai, Fuchu, Tokyo, 183-0042, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshihiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamazaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Tokyo Metropolitan Neurological Hospital, 2-6-1 Musashidai, Fuchu, Tokyo, 183-0042, Japan.
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kamiyama
authors.affiliation: ALS and Neuropathy Project, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, Tokyo, Japan.|Department of Medical Technology (Neuropathology), Kyorin University Faculty of Health Sciences, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Watabe
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Tokyo Metropolitan Neurological Hospital, 2-6-1 Musashidai, Fuchu, Tokyo, 183-0042, Japan.
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kawata
authors.affiliation: Mental Development Project, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaharu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Tokyo Metropolitan Neurological Hospital, 2-6-1 Musashidai, Fuchu, Tokyo, 183-0042, Japan.
authors.forename: Eiji
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Isozaki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000473:pathology*; D004576:Electromyography; D019054:Evoked Potentials, Motor / Q000502:physiology*; D005207:Fasciculation / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D053580:Muscle Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
keywords: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Electromyography; Fasciculation potential; Muscle strength; Quantitative analysis