DIAGNOSTIC YIELD OF NONINVASIVE HIGH-SPATIAL-RESOLUTION ELECTROMYOGRAPHY IN NEUROMUSCULAR DISEASES

High Spatial Resolution electromyography (HSR-EMG), a new kind of noni nvasive surface EMG based on a spatial filtering technique, was evalua ted with respect to the diagnosis of neuromuscular diseases, HSR-EMG m easurements were recorded from 61 healthy subjects and 72 patients wit h different neuromuscular diseases and analyzed quantitatively. The re sults indicate that a few parameters such as muscular conduction veloc ity, dwell time over root mean square, autocorrelation function, and c hi-value are sufficient to recognize and classify specific signal alte rations due to neuromuscular disorders. A diagnostic evaluation proced ure calculating automatically the most probable diagnosis from the par ameter results could assign the correct diagnosis to about 81% of the investigated patients and healthy subjects. Myopathic disorders were r ecognized with a sensitivity of 85% (specificity: 97%), neuropathic di sorders with a sensitivity of 68% (specificity: 98%). We conclude that HSR-EMG shows a diagnostic validity similar to that described in lite rature for needle EMG. Moreover, the noninvasive technique provides th e advantage of a simple and painless application. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.