Single Fiber Electromyography

The Motor Unit. / Selective Recording: Small Electrodes / "Bipolar" Recording. The Single Muscle Fibre Action Potential: The Shape / Volume Conduction, Equipment: Electrodes / Amplifiers / Loudspeaker/ Rate Meter/Tape Recorder / Display/Documentation. Recording Procedures with Different Types of Activation: Voluntary Activity / Electrical Stimulation / Reflex Activation. "Marking" of the Motor Unit, Spike Triggering: Single Fibre Recording / Concentric or Monopolar Needle Recording / Surface Electrode Recording / Motor Unit Twitch Tension. Jitter and Impulse Blocking: Neuromuscular Transmission / Electrical Stimulation /Voluntary Activation / Calculation of the jitter / Practical Ways of Measuring the jitter / Technical Error Sources in jitter Measurement / Normal Jitter Values on Axonal Stimulation Long-Term Recording / Low jitter / jitter in Potential Pairs with Long Interpotential Intervals/ Bimodal jitter, the "Flip-Flop" Phenomenon / Increased jitter and Blocking / Concomitant Blocking / Phenomena Simulating Single-Spike and Concomitant Blocking. Fibre Density: Recording Technique / Normal Fibre Density / Abnormal Fibre Density. Duration of Multiple Potentials. / Propagation Velocity and Direction of Propagation: Recording Procedure / Normal Values / Propagation Velocity During Continuous Activity / Inter-Discharge Interval-Dependent Variability: The Velocity Recovery Function (VRF). Normal and Abnormal Discharge Characteristics: Firing Pattern / Extra-Discharges / Fasciculations. Multi-Electrode Studies: Recording Procedure / Multi-Electrode Findings in Normal Tissue. Scanning EMG. / Pharmacological Studies of Neuromuscular Transmission: Anti-Depolarising Agents / Depolarising Agents / Val ium / Local Anaesthetics / Penicillamine. SFEMG Findings in Different Disorders: Denervated Muscle / Reinnervation / Multi-Electrode Studies of the Motor Unit in Motor Neuron Disease and Polyneuropathies/SingleSurface SFEMG Recordings in Reinnervation (Muscle Transplants) / Anterior Horn Cell Disorders / Myasthenia Gravis / Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome / Botulism and Botulinum ToxinTreated Patients / Tetany / Myotonia / Primary Muscle Disorders / Duchenne and Becker Dystrophy / Limb-Girdle Dystrophy/ Facio-Scapulo-Humeral Dystrophy: General Comments on SFEMG Findings in Muscular Dystrophies. Reflex Studies: Axon Reflexes / F-Response / H-Reflex / Blink Reflex / Flexion Withdrawal Reflex / Pudendal Reflexes / Tendon Jerk / Tonic Vibration Reflex (TVR). Miscellaneous Studies: Single Neuron Responses to Stimulation of Motor Cortex/ SFEMG in Hemiplegia After Stroke / SFEMG in idiopathic juvenile Scoliosis / Polyneuronal Muscle Fibre Innervation. Concentric and Monopolar Needle: Electromyography. Appendix: Reference Values / Electrode Maintenance / Possible Sources of Errors in SFEMG Studies / Uses of SFEMG in Clinical Studies and in Research / Firing Pattern / Spike Triggering / Propagation Velocity and VRF