Normative Data of Nerve Conduction Studies in the Upper Limb in Kuwait: Are They Different from the Western Data?

Abstract

Objective: To establish the normal electrophysiological data for the median, ulnar and radial nerves and to compare our results with the Western data published in the literature. Methods: Nerve conduction studies were performed prospectively in the upper limbs of 50 carefully screened healthy individuals between the ages of 16 and 56 years using standardized technique. Results: The median motor distal latency (DL) was 3.1 (0.3) ms, amplitude 11.01 (2.8) mV, conduction velocity (CV) 56.5 (3.5) m/s. The ulnar motor studies gave DL of 2.4 (0.3) ms, amplitude 9.2 (2.2) mV, CV 60.4 (5.0) m/s. Sensory studies for the median nerve were: DL of 2.3 (0.3) ms, amplitude 63.3 (18.9) µV for men and 79.3 (28.8) µV for women and CV 56.6 (7.6) m/s. For the ulnar nerve (DL) 2.0 (0.23) ms, amplitude 54.5 (18.4) µV for men and 63.9 (16.8) µV for women and CV 51.7 (5.3) m/s. The radial sensory studies were DL 1.95 (0.3) ms, amplitude 18.7 (5.5) µV and CV 52.3 ms. Only gender showed a statistically significant effect on the sensory nerve action potential for the median (p = 0.04) and ulnar nerves (p = 0.07). Conclusion: Normative conduction parameters of commonly tested nerves in the upper limb were established in our EMG lab in Kuwait. The mean motor nerve conduction parameters for the median and ulnar nerves compare favourably with the existing literature data. However, for the sensory nerves, higher value for the nerve action potential amplitude was demonstrated in the study. Gender was shown to have a significant effect on the sensory amplitude of the median and ulnar nerves.

Nerve Conduction Studies in the Upper Limb in the Malwa Region-Normative Data

“…The SNAPA for the nerves which were tested in this study was in agreement with that of other studies [11][12][13], but it was higher than the data which was published in the literature [6,7,12], as they had measured the amplitude from the baseline to the peak of the negative potential [Table/ Fig-3]. The amplitude of the sensory action potential for both the nerves was found to be more in females than in males and it seemed to be significantly influenced by the gender [8,14,15].…”

“…The results of this study for the motor nerve conduction parameters of the ulnar and the median nerves were in accordance with those of other studies, as has been seen in [Table/ Fig-3] [6,7,[11][12][13].…”

“…[Table/ Fig-3]: Comparison of motor and sensory parameters of median and ulnar nerves between the present study and those reported by others Nerveconduction parameters present study (n = 100) mean± sd shebab dK [7] Robinson et al, [9] (n = 44) hamdan FB [10] (n = 5766) hennessey et al, [11] (n = 44)…”

Normative data of upper limb nerve conduction studies in healthy adult population of Haryana

“…It has been investigated that NCV, distal motor latency (DML), and amplitude of motor action potential have useful diagnostic values. [13] The present work is mainly concerned with the study of various electrodiagnostic parameters, i.e., DML, motor nerve [10,14,15] Motor CV of the median nerve is in close proximity to results obtained from Shehab, Falco et al, and Robinson et al [9,10,15] Motor nerve CV of the ulnar nerve is also in close proximity to results obtained by Robinson et al [9] …”

Normal Values of Lower Limb Nerve Conduction in Kuwait

“…In Kuwait, there are no normal values set in our electromyographic (EMG) laboratory. Part I of this study focused on the establishment of normal values of nerve conduction in the upper limbs [11]. The main objectives of this present study are to establish the normal electrophysiological values of the common lower limb nerves by gender, and to study the relationship of conduction velocity of the lower limb nerves to height and age in healthy adult subjects.…”