Abstract
Hara Y, Akaboshi K, Masakado Y, Chino N. Physiologic decrease of single thenar motor
units in the F-response in stroke patients. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2000;81:418-23.
Objective: To investigate the left-right difference and the reproducibility by the F-wave motor
unit number estimation and to compare the motor unit number between the hemiplegic
and unaffected side in stroke patients. Setting: A referral center and institutional practice providing outpatient care. Subjects: Seven healthy volunteers and 15 consecutive stroke patients. Design: Diagnostic statistical test and correlational study. Method: Submaximal stimuli were used to evoke a sample of surface motor unit action potentials
(S-MUAPs) in the F-waves that are entirely representative of the relative numbers
of detected S-MUAPs of different sizes. The average S-MUAP amplitude was calculated
from a selected population of F-wave responses for each abductor pollicis brevis (APB)
muscle. The motor unit number was calculated by dividing the maximum M-potential negative
peak amplitude by the average S-MUAP negative peak amplitude. Result: There was no statistical difference between motor unit numbers on either side and
between test and retest in this motor unit number estimation method among normal subjects.
The motor unit number on the hemiplegic side was significantly lower than on the unaffected
side (p <.05, Mann-Whitney test) among stroke patients. Conclusion: The motor unit could decrease in the hemiplegic side after a moderate-to-severe hemiplegic
stroke and this decrement might be due to the transsynaptic degeneration secondary
to an upper motor neuron lesion. © 2000 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy
of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
August 18,
1999
Received in revised form:
August 18,
1999
Received:
February 23,
1999
Footnotes
☆No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit upon the authors or upon any organization with which the authors are associated.
☆☆Reprint requests to Yukihiro Hara, MD, DMSc, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Inagi Municipal Hospital, 1171 Ohmaru, Inagi-City, Tokyo, 206-0801, Japan.
★Supplier
Identification
Copyright
© 2000 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
