Motor evoked responses after lumbar spinal stimulation in patients with L5 or S1 radicular involvement

Motor evoked responses were recorded bilaterally in the tibialis anterior and soleus muscles after lumbar spinal stimulation in 45 patients suffering from L5 or S1 radiculopathies due to disc protrusion, and in 25 healthy controls. A significant prolongation (P less than 0.01) of motor evoked response latency was observed in 72% of the patients with L5 radiculopathy and in 66% of the patients with S1 radiculopathy. These anomalies were observed in patients with objective neurological signs as well as in patients free of objective signs. These findings indicate that subclinical compressive radiculopathy can be detected by this method which represents a useful adjunct in the assessment of radicular pain of discopathic origin.