Clinical neurophysiology in peripheral nerve injuries

Abstract

The Clinical Neurophysiologist participates in clinical evaluation of patients with known or suspected injury to a peripheral nerve, plexus or spinal root, and the information gained from neurophysiological evaluation often contributes directly to therapeutic decision making in such patients. Conduction along sensory and motor nerve axons is essentially an electrical process, and electrophysiological methods are a premier investigation for acquired disorders of peripheral nerves. Clinical neurophysiology alone does not always provide complete diagnostic information; nerve conduction studies and electromyography should be viewed as diagnostic aids, which extend the clinical examination and support other investigative tools, as outlined in Chap. 5. Electrodiagnostic techniques verify or exclude the clinical suspicion of a neuropathological process, and can offer a precise definition of the site, type and degree of a neural lesion, or reveal abnormalities that were clinically uncertain, silent or unsuspected. © 2011 Springer-Verlag London Limited.