Sensory nerve conduction studies in young adults for the expansion of a reference material
Neurography is the most objective and reliable measure of the peripheral nerve function, and it is used to diagnose both local and generalized neuropathies. Neurography can measure both motor and sensory nerve functions. The principle for sensory neurgraphy is to stimulate over the nerve and record proximal or distal from the stimulated electrode.At the Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, University Hospital Uppsala, a problem has been identified, in that young adult patients tend to show unexpected abnormal neurography values in relation to the expected, indicated by the reference limits, without clinical correlates. This concerns foremost the sensory amplitudes in median and ulnar nerves. The hypothesis is that the requirement of young adults? amplitudes is too high. A reference material better including more subjects in this age group may solve the problem.Sensory nerve conduction studies were performed in 33 subjects, aged 15-30. The nerve functions were tested on median, ulnar and radial nerves. Surface electrodes were used for both recording and stimulation.The result shows that the presently used reference material for some nerves indeed has too high requirement for young adults. After increasing the reference material for younger age groups, the new reference limits has been changed and this should cause fewer false positive findings.