Authors: Samson Mebrahtu Michael Rubin
Publish Date: 1993/07/01
Volume: 240, Issue: 7, Pages: 427-429
Abstract
The sensitivity of F wave chronodispersion Fc in evaluating nerve root pathology is unknown We compared Fc in 91 patients with clinical and EMG evidence of L5 or S1 radiculopathy with Fc in 81 controls in order to evaluate its sensitivity in lumbosacral radiculopathy F waves were obtained by stimulating the peroneal and tibial nerves behind the knee and recording from the extensor digitorum brevis L5 predominant and flexor hallucis brevis S1 predominant muscles respectively Fc was calculated by subtracting the shortest F wave latency from the longest and in controls ranged from 02 to 234 ms in the peroneal nerve and from 12 to 134 ms in the tibial nerve 95th percentile = 13 ms for the peroneal nerve and 92 ms for the tibial nerve In the patient group Fc also ranged from 02 to 234 ms in the peroneal nerve and from 04 to 182 ms in the tibial nerve Only 5 55 and 8 113 patients for the peroneal and tibial nerves respectively had Fc values which fell beyond the 95th percentile a percentage far below the sensitivity of F wave latency measurement and not substantially different from chance Thus we conclude that Fc has no substantial additional value in evaluating lumbosacral radiculopathy over that of F wave latency
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