Significance of single-fiber electromyography for diagnosing neuromusculardisease

This article describes the technical requirements as well as the procedure of single-fiber EMG. The measurement of jitter and of fiber density is desc ribed. The voluntary single fiber EMG and the stimulated single fiber techn ique used for the calculation of the neuromuscular jitter a re described in detail. In a second part the importance and the use of single fiber techni ques in different neuromuscular diseases is explained. The importance of ji tter measurement in various neuromuscular transmission disorders, myastheni a gravis and Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome is discussed. In addition, t he value of fiber density measurement for the early diagnosis of neuromuscu lar disorders is also reported and its use in the follow-up of reinnervatio n processes is described. In myopathies this technique is used only for sci entific purposes.