Association of Complex Repetitive Discharges With Chronicity and Clinical Symptoms in Radiculopathies

Complex repetitive discharges (CRDs) are incompletely understood needle electromyography (EMG) waveforms seen in both myopathic and neurogenic disorders including radiculopathies. This study aimed to clarify the significance of CRDs in patients with radiculopathies.

This case-control study randomly identified 100 patients with needle EMG evidence of radiculopathy demonstrating at least one CRD in the electrodiagnostically involved myotome between January 2017 and January 2022. These patients were compared with 100 randomly selected patients with EMG evidence of radiculopathy without CRDs controlled for sex, age at EMG testing, and affected nerve root segment. Patient clinical symptoms, neurologic examination, EMG features, and imaging were analyzed. A paired sample t -test for categorial data and χ 2 test for nonparametric data were used for statistical analysis with significance defined as P < 0.05.

Patients with radiculopathies with CRDs had longer disease duration averaging 59 months (range 1-480) compared with patients with radiculopathies without CRDs averaging 26 months (range 1-192, P < 0.01). Clinical symptoms of paresthesias and weakness were both significantly more common in patients with radiculopathies with CRDs than those without CRDs ( P < 0.01 and 0.01, respectively). Needle EMG demonstrated a greater average number of muscles with neurogenic motor unit potentials per radiculopathy in patients with radiculopathies with CRDs compared with those without CRDs. Imaging studies of patients with radiculopathies with CRDs were more likely to reveal evidence of nerve root compression ( P < 0.01).

The presence of CRDs in patients with radiculopathies is consistent with clinically more symptomatic radiculopathies and a longer duration of nerve root compromise.