Electrodiagnostic testing in neuromuscular disorders.

Abstract

For the past approximately six decades, electrodiagnostic testing orelectrodiagnosis (EDX) has played an increasingly important role in the clinical evaluation of patients who have neuromuscular disorders. This in part is because of a greater understanding of the pathophysiology of these disorders. Also of importance is the development of the techniques themselves, beginning with basic needle electromyography (EMG) and electroneurography (or nerve conduction studies) (NCS) in the 1940s. Today the clinician has a larger menu of testing options, including somatosensory evoked potentials,quantitative EMG, single fiber EMG, and autonomic testing. The advent of computers has added speed and accuracy to testing