Electrophysiologic examination of subclinical beriberi polyneuropathy

We performed electroneurophysiologic studies on patients with subclinical beriberi polyneuropathy (PNP) for early detection and early treatment of this disease. The subjects were 35 subclinical PNP patients admitted to the in- and outpatient clinics of the Dr. Soetomo Hospital, Surabaya, Indonesia, in 1989. The results showed that out of all the neurophysiological evaluations assessed, reduced amplitudes of the distal latency of the peroneal motor nerve, H-reflex, and pathological EMG findings in the leg muscles were the most frequently occurring abnormalities, followed by reduction of the proximal amplitude of the peroneal motor and distal amplitude of the sural sensory nerve. However the motor conduction velocities of the peroneal, posterior tibial and median motor nerves were all within normal limits. The distal amplitudes of the motor (peroneal and median) and sensory (sural and median) nerves were more affected than the distal latency times. The motor nerves were more often and more seriously affected than the sensoric nerves.