Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 19, 2025
Utility of Dissociated Intrinsic Hand Muscle Atrophy in the Diagnosis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Published on: March 4, 2014
Split-hand phenomenon in motor neuron diseases: Sonographic assesment of muscle thickness
Alon Abraham1, Yaara Fainmesser2, Vivian E Drory1
1Neuromuscular Diseases Unit, Department of Neurology, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel; Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Objective:
To explore the diagnostic accuracy of the split-hand index (SHI) for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) using sonographic assessment of muscle thickness.
Methods:
We performed a prospective sonographic assessment of hand muscle thickness in 59 controls, 87 patients with ALS, and 33 patients with SMA. We determined the diagnostic accuracy of SHI for differentiating patients with ALS and SMA from controls.
Results:
Patients with ALS and SMA had significantly lower muscle thickness and SHI values compared with controls. SHI showed excellent diagnostic accuracy for differentiating ALS from controls, and good diagnostic accuracy for differentiating SMA from controls.
Conclusions:
SHI determined by sonographic measurement of hand muscle thickness seems to be a promising tool for the diagnosis of ALS and may be added easily when performing neuromuscular ultrasound.
Significance:
SHI determined by sonographic measurement of hand muscle thickness can differentiate between healthy subjects and patients with ALS and SMA.
More Related Videos
06:40Screening of Axonal Degeneration in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Using Ultrasonography and Nerve Conduction Studies
Published on: January 11, 2019
06:35In Vivo Electrophysiological Measurement of Compound Muscle Action Potential from the Forelimbs in Mouse Models of Motor Neuron Degeneration
Published on: June 15, 2018
