Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology

The Korean Society of Clinical Neurophysiology (대한임상신경생리학회)
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Medial Plantar Sensory Nerve Conduction Studies in Diabetics: Comparision of Three Different Methods

당뇨병 환자에서의 안쪽 발바닥 감각신경의 신경전도검사: 세 가지 다른 방법의 비교

  • Kwon, Hyuk-Hwan (Department of Neurology, The Catholic University of Daegu School of Medicine) ;
  • Lee, Dong-Kuck (Department of Neurology, The Catholic University of Daegu School of Medicine) ;
  • Seok, Jung-Im (Department of Neurology, The Catholic University of Daegu School of Medicine) ;
  • Han, Woo-Ho (Department of Neurology, The Catholic University of Daegu School of Medicine)
  • 권혁환 (대구가톨릭대학병원 신경과) ;
  • 이동국 (대구가톨릭대학병원 신경과) ;
  • 석정임 (대구가톨릭대학병원 신경과) ;
  • 한우호 (대구가톨릭대학병원 신경과)
  • Received : 2009.05.28
  • Accepted : 2009.06.07
  • Published : 2010.06.30
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Abstract

Background: The medial plantar nerve (MPN) is a distal branch of the posterior tibial nerve, and various methods of nerve conduction study for MPN have been introduced so far. Hemmi et al described a new method (Hemmi's method) for recording medial plantar sensory nerve action potentials (SNAPs), which is considered as a simple and reliable method for measuring medial plantar SNAPs. This study was aimed to establish the normal values for the MPN conduction study among Koreans and to compare the sensitivities of three different methods for MPN conduction study (Hemmi, Oh, and Saeed's method) in detecting evidence of peripheral neuropathy among diabetic patients. Methods: In 27 healthy subjects, MPN conduction study using Hemmi's method was performed and normal values were calculated. In 54 diabetic patients who showed normal routine nerve conduction studies, three different methods for MPN conduction study were performed and diagnostic sensitivity of each method were compared. Results: In normal subjects, the mean medial plantar SNAP amplitude and conduction velocities measured by Hemmi's method were $4.3{\pm}1.0$ uV and $38.3{\pm}6.8$ m/s respectively. Among 54 patients with diabetes who showed normal routine nerve conduction studies, medial plantar SNAP was not obtainable in 28, 31, and 6 patients by Hemmi, Oh and Saeed's method respectively. Conclusions: In terms of the diagnostic sensitivity for detecting diabetic neuropathy, there had been no significant statistical difference between three different methods. Our study suggested that MPN conduction study using Hemmi's method is simple and useful screening test for early diabetic neuropathy, and is comparable with Oh's method.

Keywords

References

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