The distribution of conduction velocities (DCV) in peripheral nerves: a review

Recent advances in digital signal processing have permitted the development of clinically relevant, noninvasive, computer-based methods for estimating the distribution of conduction velocities (DCV) in motor, sensory, and mixed populations of large myelinated nerve fibers. All currently available methods incorporate explicit and implicit assumptions about the nature of the unit impulses under study. Preliminary investigations using DCV methods have clarified some issues concerning conduction of impulses in the different fiber subpopulations of normal and diseased human nerves. In the presence of severe nerve disease, DCV analysis is usually either impractical or superfluous; additional studies are needed to define its range of clinical applicability. Extension of this technology to clinical analysis of small myelinated and unmyelinated fiber populations will require improvements in the techniques of nerve stimulation and recording.