Abstract

MARTINEZ SUAREZ, REMBERTO  and  SHAKER AL-FALAHI, MAHMOOD. Diagnosis and evolution of lumbosacral disk herniation by using electrophysiological techniques. Rev Cubana Ortop Traumatol [online]. 1998, vol.12, n.1-2, pp. 13-17. ISSN 1561-3100.

42 patients who were served in our center with the diagnosis of lumbosacral disk herniation were studied. All of them underwent electromyography, F-wave of the perineal nerve and H-reflex. The somatosensory evoked potentials of the posterior tibial nerves and of L5 and S1 dermatomes were obtained. The sensitivity of electromyography was 84.8 % with 57.6 % of specificity. This rose to 90.9 % on adding the results of F-wave and H-reflex. The specificity of the somatosensory evoked potentials was just 26.6 %. In the evolutive follow-up, the electromyography proved to be more sensitive to appreciate the improvement of the neurological changes compared with F-have and H-reflex. It was concluded that electromyography combined with the studies of F-wave and H-reflex shows a significant sensitivity and an important specificity in the diagnosis of lumbosacral radicular compression syndrome, and that it is useful in the evolutive follow-up of these patients. The somatosensory evoked potentials of the tibial nerve and of the dermatomes are only recommended as an alternative study and not as a routine examination.

Keywords : INTERVERTEBRAL DISK DISPLACEMENT [theraphy]; EVOKED POTENTIALS, SOMATOSENSORY; ELECTROMYOGRAPHY [methods].

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