Abstract
Study design:
Cross-sectional study.
Objectives:
To observe if there is a relationship between the level of injury by the American Spinal Cord Injury Association (ASIA) and cortical somatosensory evoked potential (SSEP) recordings of the median nerve in patients with quadriplegia.
Setting:
Rehabilitation Outpatient Clinic at the university hospital in Brazil.
Methods:
Fourteen individuals with quadriplegia and 8 healthy individuals were evaluated. Electrophysiological assessment of the median nerve was performed by evoked potential equipment. The injury level was obtained by ASIA. N9, N13 and N20 were analyzed based on the presence or absence of responses. The parameters used for analyzing these responses were the latency and the amplitude. Data were analyzed using mixed-effect models.
Results:
N9 responses were found in all patients with quadriplegia with a similar latency and amplitude observed in healthy individuals; N13 responses were not found in any patients with quadriplegia. N20 responses were not found in C5 patients with quadriplegia but it was present in C6 and C7 patients. Their latencies were similar to healthy individuals (P>0.05) but the amplitudes were decreased (P<0.05).
Conclusion:
This study suggests that the SSEP responses depend on the injury level, considering that the individuals with C6 and C7 injury levels, both complete and incomplete, presented SSEP recordings in the cortical area. It also showed a relationship between the level of spinal cord injury assessed by ASIA and the median nerve SSEP responses, through the latency and amplitude recordings.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the support given by the State of São Paulo Research Foundation—FAPESP (no. 2005/53530-0, no. 2003/05856-9 and no. 1996/12198-2).
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de Arruda Serra Gaspar, M., Cliquet, A., Fernandes Lima, V. et al. Relationship between median nerve somatosensory evoked potentials and spinal cord injury levels in patients with quadriplegia. Spinal Cord 47, 372–378 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.2008.147
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.2008.147
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