Detecting fasciculations in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: duration of observation required

Kerry R Mills (1)

1 KCH - King's College Hospital

A practical issue in the diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is how long must the EMG be observed before a muscle can be declared free of fasciculations with some degree of certainty. To answer this question, the interval between fasciculation potentials (FPs) were recorded from 53 muscles of 19 ALS patients. The distribution of the FP intervals found across the sample showed that to record a single fasciculation with a probability approaching unity, up to 90s observation may be required.

Mots clés: ALS; EMG

Kerry R Mills. Detecting fasciculations in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: duration of observation required. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 2010, 82 (5), pp.549. ⟨10.1136/jnnp.2009.186833⟩. ⟨hal-00585769⟩