Abstract
BackgroundBulbar involvement is a hallmark of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), but surprisingly very few studies have addressed the frequency, pattern and clinical relevance of laryngeal involvement in the disease.MethodsTwenty-six patients with spinal-onset ALS underwent nasofibroscopy (NF), followed by laryngeal electromyography (LEMG). We also studied resting activity and motor unit potentials of the genioglossus and masseter muscles.ResultsTwenty-four patients presented neurogenic changes in at least one laryngeal muscle. There were fibrillation and/or fasciculation potentials associated with chronic neurogenic changes in the same muscle in 16 patients; of these, 9 had no alteration in the genioglossus. We found no patient with tongue neurogenic changes and normal LEMG. NF was abnormal in 14 patients; in the remaining 12, LEMG identified neurogenic changes in 11 of them.ConclusionLEMG is able to identify laryngeal denervation in patients with ALS, sometimes before clinical manifestations are noticed. This technique may be a useful diagnostic tool for selected patients with suspicion of ALS.
Funder
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Subject
Psychiatry and Mental health,Clinical Neurology,Surgery
Cited by
3 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献