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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · J Lab Physicians 2023; 15(04): 493-497
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-57229
Original Article

Arm Length—Does It Influence Late Response in a Nerve Conduction Study?

Sathya G.R 
1   Department of Physiology, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, Ganapathichetikulam, Puducherry, India
,
Jayanthi Arulneyam
2   Department of Neurology, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, Ganapathichetikulam, Puducherry, India
,
Venkatachalam J.
3   Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Post Graduation and Research, Puducherry, India
,
M. Manikandan
4   Department of Community Medicine, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, Ganapathichetikulam, Puducherry, India
› Author Affiliations Funding None.
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Abstract

Introduction F wave response, a late response obtained from a motor nerve, can be influenced by various external factors like gender, temperature, height, weight, and limb length, and hence it causes variation in the measured parameters. Since very few studies have studied the impact of arm length on the F wave, this study was conducted to analyze the relation between the arm length on various parameters of F wave and hence to consider the importance of it during conduct of a nerve conduction study.

Methods The study was conducted among 40 healthy individuals and 40 diabetics with neuropathy. The arm length was measured in the upper limbs in both the groups and F wave was recorded following a conventional procedure using a standardized instrument.

Results This study showed that in the upper limbs of both the groups, there existed a positive correlation for certain parameters like minimum, maximum and mean latencies, persistence, FM latency and M latency, and a negative correlation for chronodispersion.

Conclusion F wave parameters should be adjusted for arm length to improve the sensitivity and diagnostic ability of neurological testing.

Keywords

F wave - arm length - F minimum latency - peripheral neuropathy

Statement of Informed Consent

The study was performed after obtaining institutional ethical clearance and properly signed informed consent from the study individuals.


Also, the authors declare that the study was conducted honestly and the results were discussed and agreed by all the authors. The submission of this article was also accepted by all the authors.


Authors' Contributions

S.G.R. and J.A. contributed to conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, and data curation. J.J. helped in methodology, formal analysis, investigation, data curation, and data analysis. M.M. contributed to data curation and data analysis.




Publication History

Received: 04 July 2022

Accepted: 05 January 2023

Article published online:
13 June 2023

© 2023. The Indian Association of Laboratory Physicians. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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