Concentric needle jitter on stimulated frontalis and extensor digitorum in 20 myasthenia gravis patients.

INTRODUCTION

Our objective was to study jitter parameters using a concentric needle electrode (CNE) in the extensor digitorum (ED) and frontalis (FR) muscles.

METHODS

Twenty myasthenia gravis (MG) patients, mean age 44.5 years, were studied. Percutaneous (FR) and intramuscular needle (ED) stimulation approaches were used. Jitter was expressed as the mean consecutive difference (MCD). The filter settings were from 1000 HZ to 10 kHZ.

RESULTS

Abnormal MCD was found in 85% for both ED and FR and in 90% when combining the two muscles. An abnormal percentage of outliers was found in 90% for ED and 85% for FR. The mean MCD did not show a difference for ED and FR, but the percentage of outliers and blocking were higher in FR. Abnormality was found in 93.7% (generalized) and in 75% (ocular) of MG cases. For ED outliers abnormality was greater than the MCD.

CONCLUSION

CNE jitter is reliable for investigation of MG, although borderline findings should be judged with caution.