Nerve conduction and temperature: Necessary warming time

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to estimate the time needed to warm an extremity prior to measuring nerve conduction. In 8 normal subjects tibial and sural nerve conduction variables were measured during cooling and warming of the leg in water of 18 degrees C and 36 degrees C, respectively. During cooling, nerve conduction velocity (NCV) decreased and distal motor latency (DML), duration, and area of the compound muscle action potentials (CMAP), and compound nerve action potentials (CNAP) increased. The reverse occurred during warming. During cooling or warming the change in these variables became progressively smaller with time. The time course could therefore be described by an exponential relation, the parameters of which were determined. On the basis of these data, correlations were calculated between the skin temperature at the start of the investigation and the warming time needed to obtain a good estimate of nerve conduction variables at 36 degrees C. The use of correction factors, instead of actual warming, yielded acceptable errors only for NCV and not for the other variables.

Effect of temperature on spike-triggered average torque and electrophysiological properties of low-threshold motor units

“…Although some investigators suggested 30 min of maintenance of the skin temperature to stabilize the intramuscular temperature in nerve conduction studies (18), the interval of time selected in this study was longer than that indicated by other authors (41). Moreover, in this study, we investigated very superficial muscle fibers due to the need of recording the same motor unit activity with both intramuscular and surface EMG recordings (15).…”

Temperature dependence of excitability indices of human cutaneous afferents

“…However, this change affects CSAP area more consistently than amplitude, in both computer models and in vivo conduction studies. [16][17][18]42 Increased temporal dispersion is unlikely to be responsible for the relative insensitivity of threshold and strength-duration properties to cooling for the following reasons.…”

Practical Electrophysiology for the Diagnosis of Multifocal Motor Neuropathy

“…14,[18][19][20][21] Warming nerves to this temperature increases the detection of CB because nodal sodium channels have a shorter open time at higher temperatures, increasing the probability that conduction at critically demyelinated internodes will become blocked. 19,22 Furthermore, CV slowing due to cold can be distinguished from CV slowing due to demyelination.…”