Related Experiment Videos
Multimodality evoked potentials in HTLV-I associated myelopathy
R Kakigi1, H Shibasaki, Y Kuroda
1Department of Internal Medicine, Saga Medical School, Japan.
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry
|August 1, 1988
Summary
Evoked potentials (EPs) in HTLV-I associated myelopathy (HAM) reveal normal median nerve SEPs but prolonged cortical components in posterior tibial nerve SEPs. Brainstem auditory EPs (BAEPs) were normal, while visual EPs (VEPs) showed abnormalities in some patients.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Clinical Neurology
- Electrophysiology
Background:
- Human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) infection can lead to HTLV-I associated myelopathy (HAM).
- Evoked potentials (EPs) are valuable tools for assessing neurological pathway integrity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the utility of multimodality evoked potentials (somatosensory EPs [SEPs], visual EPs [VEPs], and brainstem auditory EPs [BAEPs]) in diagnosing and characterizing neurological involvement in patients with HAM.
Main Methods:
- 16 patients diagnosed with HAM underwent multimodality EPs testing, including median nerve SEPs, posterior tibial nerve SEPs, VEPs, and BAEPs.
- Analysis focused on latency and amplitude abnormalities in different EP components.
Main Results:
- Median nerve SEPs were consistently normal across all HAM patients.
- Posterior tibial nerve SEPs showed normal spinal components but prolonged cortical components in 10 out of 16 cases, even in those without sensory deficits.
- BAEPs were normal in patients with normal hearing, whereas VEPs exhibited abnormalities in two cases despite normal visual acuity.
Conclusions:
- The findings suggest a predominant lesion in the thoracic spinal cord in HAM patients, as indicated by posterior tibial nerve SEPs.
- Subclinical involvement of the visual pathway may also occur in HAM, as evidenced by abnormal VEPs in some individuals.