Loading…

Detecting fasciculations in cranial nerve innervated muscles with ultrasound in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

ABSTRACT Introduction Cranial muscle fasciculations may be difficult to detect in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Ultrasound (US) detection of fasciculations in these muscles may have clinical utility. Methods Patients with suspected ALS were prospectively enrolled. Nerve conduction studies, ne...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Muscle & nerve 2017-12, Vol.56 (6), p.1072-1076
Main Authors: O'gorman, Cullen M., Weikamp, Janneke G., Baria, Michael, Van Den Engel‐hoek, Lenie, Kassardjian, Charles, Van Alfen, Nens, Boon, Andrea J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:ABSTRACT Introduction Cranial muscle fasciculations may be difficult to detect in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Ultrasound (US) detection of fasciculations in these muscles may have clinical utility. Methods Patients with suspected ALS were prospectively enrolled. Nerve conduction studies, needle electromyography (EMG), and US examination of cranial muscles were performed. Controls were examined by US only. Fasciculations were counted and scored for each muscle after 10 or 30 seconds. Results There were 84 patients with ALS. Fasciculations were most frequently found in the genioglossus muscle. Overall, detection rates by US and EMG were similar, but US was more likely to detect frequent fasciculations. Fasciculations were rare in controls, seen in 7 of 1,090 (0.6%) muscles. No control had > 5 fasciculations in any muscle. Discussion Fasciculations were frequently detected in cranial muscles of patients with ALS. US was found to be a sensitive method, and was not impaired by factors such as anxiety and the inability of the patient to relax. Muscle Nerve 56: 1072–1076, 2017
ISSN:0148-639X
1097-4598
DOI:10.1002/mus.25676