|
© 1983 American Academy of Neurology Motor neuron disease (ALS)Evaluation of detection thresholds of cutaneous sensationDepartment of Neurology, Peripheral Nerve Laboratory, Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation, Rochester, MN.
Cutaneous touch-pressure, vibration, and thermal cooling detection thresholds were estimated on the skin of one foot for 80 patients with motor neuron disease (MND) and compared with that of more than 300 site, age, and sex-matched healthy controls. Fourteen of the patients had elevated thresholds ( Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Mulder, Department of Neurology, Peripheral Nerve Laboratory, Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation, Rochester, MN 55905. Supported in part by a Peripheral Neuropathy Clinical Center Grant from NINCDS (No. NS14304), a Center Grant from MDA, a grant from the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Society of America, and Mayo, Borchard, Upton, and Herrick Funds. Accepted for publication March 29, 1983.
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
95th percentile): 7 showed elevated thresholds of sensitive points, 5 an increased number of insensitive grid points, and 2 a combination of these criteria. Therefore, raised vibration thresholds occur more frequently in MND patients than in controls (p < 0.001). A detection threshold abnormality was not demonstrated for touch-pressure or for thermal cooling. These results are in keeping with the demonstrated increased cutaneous myelinated fiber degeneration in this condition and with evidence of sensory neural system involvement at postmortem examination. Although motor neurons are selectively vulnerable in MND, afferent neurons may also be affected, albeit less frequently and/or to a lesser degree. 
