The value of ulnar somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) in cervical myelopathy

Cutaneous Silent Periods in the Assessment of Mild Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy

“…10 SEP and MEP abnormalities are frequent in advanced cases of CCSM, but may even serve as a predictive factor in preclinical "silent" cases. 2 Upper and lower limb SEPs correlated well with the severity of CCSM, 4,21,22 yet MEPs had a higher sensitivity and specificity for spinal cord abnormalities as based on MRI. 4,23 The median nerve SEP component N13 reflects postsynaptic activity in the dorsal horn in response to non-noxious input from fast-conducting large-diameter fibers and is regarded as a reliable parameter of cervical gray matter dysfunction in syringomyelia and cervical myelopathy.…”

“…20 In cases of inconsistency of clinical symptoms and morphologic findings, neurophysiological methods may aid in the decision process, 1 particularly needle EMG and evoked potentials, that reflect anterior horn cell, dorsal column, and corticospinal tract impairment, respectively. Dysfunction of long afferent and efferent spinal pathways because of chronic compression in CCSM has previously been described, 2,4,[21][22][23] however, reports about spinothalamic tract involvement in CCSM are scarce. 10 SEP and MEP abnormalities are frequent in advanced cases of CCSM, but may even serve as a predictive factor in preclinical "silent" cases.…”

Transcranial magnetic stimulation screening for cord compression in cervical spondylosis

“…MEPs have been shown previously to be more sensitive in evaluating CSM [12,13]. While somatosensory evoked potentials are of some clinical value and have been recently shown to be useful in evaluating presymptomatic CSM [14], we opted for MEPs for screening purposes.…”

Die Zervikale Myelopathie als Komplikation der Rheumatoiden Arthritis

“…Bei leichtgradigen Myelonkompressionen der CS-ZM ist die Pyramidenbahn frühzeitig betroffen [17,98]. Wahrscheinlich ist dies der Grund, warum MEP in der Diagnostik der CS-ZM noch etwas sensitiver sind als SEP [138,153]. Dabei ist die MEP-Untersuchung zur unteren Extremität sensitiver als zur oberen, wahrscheinlich weil der laterale Teil der Pyramidenbahn bei extramedullären Kompressionen früher betroffen ist als der medial gelegene [17, 98,131].…”