Fibromyalgia and related conditions: Electromyogram profile during isometric muscle contraction

in Joint Bone Spine (2010), 77

Objectives: To evaluate electromyogram (EMG) profiles in patients with three related conditions: fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and depression. Methods: We studied 44 healthy volunteers, 22 ... [more ▼]

Objectives: To evaluate electromyogram (EMG) profiles in patients with three related conditions: fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and depression. Methods: We studied 44 healthy volunteers, 22 patients with fibromyalgia, 11 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, and 10 patients admitted for depression. The trapezius electromyogram was recorded during maximally sustained, bilateral, 90◦ abduction of the shoulders. EMG signal frequency and amplitude were measured throughout the test. Results: In the fibromyalgia group, isometric contraction duration was significantly shorter than in the other two patient groups (P < 0.001) and the EMG frequency and amplitude pattern indicated premature discontinuation of the muscle contraction. Findings in the chronic fatigue patients were similar to those in the healthy controls. The patients with depression had a distinctive EMG profile characterized by excessive initial motor-unit recruitment with a shift in the frequency spectrum. Conclusions: Fibromyalgia was associated with a specific EMG pattern indicating premature discontinuation of the muscle contraction. Therefore, maximal voluntary muscle contraction tests may be of limited value for assessing function in fibromyalgia patients. Chronic fatigue syndrome patients had similar EMG findings to those in the healthy controls. The EMG alterations in the patients with depression were consistent with manifestations of psychomotor retardation. [less ▲]

Définition de la valeur du « peak-ratio » sans monitoring de l’amplitude du tracé électromyographique interférentiel (TEI)

in Neurophysiologie Clinique = Clinical Neurophysiology (2004), 34

La neuropathie avec hypersensibilite hereditaire a la pression ou neuropathie tomaculaire

in Revue Médicale de Liège (2002), 57(10), 651-4

Hereditary neuropathy liability to pressure palsies is characterized by recurring accesses of painless paralysis at the level of various nerves likely to be compressed. This affection remains ... [more ▼]

Hereditary neuropathy liability to pressure palsies is characterized by recurring accesses of painless paralysis at the level of various nerves likely to be compressed. This affection remains underdiagnosed because of its usually benign course, sometimes without any symptom. The diagnosis is supported by clinical and electrophysiological data associated with, in the majority of patients, a deletion of one of the alleles coding for protein PMP 22 on the level of the locus 17p11.2. [less ▲]

Forme scapulo-peroniere a revelation tardive d'une dystrophie musculaire facio-scapulo-humerale, liee a une deletion chromosomique 4q35.

in Revue Neurologique (2002), 158(12), 1210-3