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R V MILLER

Publications and source records attributed to R V MILLER.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Fasciculation. Electromyographic and clinical significance.

Fascicular twitching of muscles may be present as the result of compression of spinal roots or anterior horn cells, injuries of peripheral nerves or plexes or to motor neuron disease. Occasionally fasciculation may be of no clinical significance. Electromyography may be of great help in determining the extent of involvement and whether other manifestations of nerve damage are present. Final diagnosis, however, depends upon the history, physical examination and clinical evaluation, since fasciculation is present in a wide variety of conditions.

Anterior Horn Cells↗

Electromyography; uses and limitations.

A normal muscle at rest emits no detectable electric current, but in action, in diseases of the muscle and in denervation it emits electric impulses characteristic of these states. The impulses can be amplified and studied through the sonic and oscilloscopic patterns they create. These patterns are sufficiently different so that simple atrophy of disuse can be distinguished from the denervation that may be associated with it. Since denervation can be localized to individual muscles and thence to the nerves controlling them, electromyography serves much the same function as myelography, with comparable accuracy and with greater safety and simplicity. It aids in the diagnosis of several muscular diseases of children and adults. Because electromyographic changes due to injury do not appear until 18 to 21 days later, a study made soon after injury can either disclose or rule out preexisting lesions. Then a later study indicating denervation is objective evidence that any disability is due to the injury in question.

Adult↗