TY - JOUR
T1 - Diagnostic value of electrophysiological tests in patients with sciatica
AU - Albeck, M. J.
AU - Taher, G.
AU - Lauritzen, M.
AU - Trojaborg, W.
PY - 2000/3/28
Y1 - 2000/3/28
N2 - Objectives - To assess the diagnostic value of electrophysiological tests in patients with sciatica. Materials and methods - The diagnostic value of electrophysiological tests were evaluated in 25 patients with mono- radicular sciatica. The electrophysiological study included dermatomal somatosensory evoked potentials, electromyography, F-wave latencies, H- reflexes and motor and sensory nerve conduction determinations. The results of the electrophysiological examinations were evaluated blindly, and the test results were analysed separately by a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Furthermore, the 5 modalities were evaluated jointly and analysed by a decision-analytic regret function. Results - A high predictive value was found for the H-reflex examination, but low for the other modalities. When the 5 modalities were evaluated jointly, a non-significant decrease in expected regret from the pre-test situation of 0.96 to a value of 0.93 in post-test situation was revealed. Conclusion - Electrophysiological testing is not sufficient as stand-alone examination in patients with sciatica.
AB - Objectives - To assess the diagnostic value of electrophysiological tests in patients with sciatica. Materials and methods - The diagnostic value of electrophysiological tests were evaluated in 25 patients with mono- radicular sciatica. The electrophysiological study included dermatomal somatosensory evoked potentials, electromyography, F-wave latencies, H- reflexes and motor and sensory nerve conduction determinations. The results of the electrophysiological examinations were evaluated blindly, and the test results were analysed separately by a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Furthermore, the 5 modalities were evaluated jointly and analysed by a decision-analytic regret function. Results - A high predictive value was found for the H-reflex examination, but low for the other modalities. When the 5 modalities were evaluated jointly, a non-significant decrease in expected regret from the pre-test situation of 0.96 to a value of 0.93 in post-test situation was revealed. Conclusion - Electrophysiological testing is not sufficient as stand-alone examination in patients with sciatica.
KW - Diagnostic test
KW - Electrophysiological test
KW - Evoked potential
KW - Intervertebral disc displacement
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0034016021&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 10770521
AN - SCOPUS:0034016021
SN - 0065-1427
VL - 101
SP - 249
EP - 254
JO - Acta Neurologica Scandinavica, Supplement
JF - Acta Neurologica Scandinavica, Supplement
IS - 4
ER -