Abstract
INTRODUCTION: The objective of this study was to evaluate a recently developed motor unit number estimation (MUNE) method, MScanFit MUNE (MScan), as a measure of disease progression in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) compared with compound muscle action potential (CMAP) amplitude and 2 traditional MUNE methods.
METHODS: ALS patients were evaluated clinically using the ALS Functional Rating Scale-Revised (ALSFRS-R). MScan, multiple-point stimulation MUNE (MPS), and motor unit number index (MUNIX) were performed in the abductor pollicis brevis (APB) muscle at baseline (27 patients), 4 months (23 patients), and 8 months (16 patients).
RESULTS: Of the 5 measures, MScan registered the largest decline (8.7% per month), compared with MPS (3.4%), MUNIX (4.8%), CMAP amplitude (2.0%), and ALSFRS-R (1.9%). Only MScan and ALSFRS-R registered significant decrements over 4 and 8 months.
DISCUSSION: MScan may be useful as a sensitive, objective tool for quantifying motor unit loss in ALS. Muscle Nerve 59:82-87, 2019.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Muscle & Nerve |
| Volume | 59 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages (from-to) | 82-87 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| ISSN | 0148-639X |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2019 |
Keywords
- Aged
- Disease Progression
- Electromyography
- Evoked Potentials, Motor/physiology
- Female
- Humans
- Male
- Middle Aged
- Motor Neuron Disease/physiopathology
- Motor Neurons/physiology
- Muscle, Skeletal/physiopathology
- Retrospective Studies