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Neurology 1999;53:1573
© 1999 American Academy of Neurology
Brief Communications

Diagnostic value of myotatic reflexes in axonal and demyelinating polyneuropathy

G. W. van Dijk, MD, PhD, J. H. J. Wokke, MD, PhD, N. C. Notermans, MD, PhD, J. van Gijn, MD, PhD and H. Franssen, MD, PhD

From the Departments of Clinical Neurophysiology (Drs. van Dijk and Franssen) and Neurology (Drs. Wokke, Notermans, and van Gijn), University Hospital Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Gert W. van Dijk, Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, University Hospital Utrecht, F02.230, PO Box 85500, 3508 GA Utrecht, the Netherlands; e-mail: G.W.Dijk{at}neuro.azu.nl

In 11 patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) and 11 patients with chronic idiopathic axonal polyneuropathy (CIAP), absent myotatic reflexes were significantly associated more often with CIDP than with CIAP, an absent biceps-reflex having the highest sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of CIDP. In CIDP, the latencies of electromyographically recorded myotatic reflexes often indicated demyelination, notwithstanding normal clinically assessed myotatic reflexes. Myotatic reflexes may therefore be useful for the distinction between axonal and demyelinating polyneuropathy.

Key words: Myotatic reflexes—Polyneuropathy—Axonal—Demyelinating.






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