PMID- 37181417
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
LR  - 20230516
IS  - 2467-981X (Electronic)
IS  - 2467-981X (Linking)
VI  - 8
DP  - 2023
TI  - The test-retest reliability of large and small fiber nerve excitability testing 
      with threshold tracking.
PG  - 71-78
LID - 10.1016/j.cnp.2023.03.003 [doi]
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Standard nerve excitability testing (NET) predominantly assesses Aalpha- 
      and Abeta-fiber function, but a method examining small afferents would be of great 
      interest in pain studies. Here, we examined the properties of a novel perception 
      threshold tracking (PTT) method that preferentially activates Adelta-fibers using 
      weak currents delivered by a novel multipin electrode and compared its 
      reliability with NET. METHODS: Eighteen healthy subjects (mean age:34.06 +/- 2.0) 
      were examined three times with motor and sensory NET and PTT in morning and 
      afternoon sessions on the same day (intra-day reliability) and after a week 
      (inter-day reliability). NET was performed on the median nerve, while PTT stimuli 
      were delivered through a multipin electrode located on the forearm. During PTT, 
      subjects indicated stimulus perception via a button press and the intensity of 
      the current was automatically increased or decreased accordingly by Qtrac 
      software. This allowed changes in the perception threshold to be tracked during 
      strength-duration time constant (SDTC) and threshold electrotonus protocols. 
      RESULTS: The coefficient of variation (CoV) and interclass coefficient of 
      variation (ICC) showed good-excellent reliability for most NET parameters. PTT 
      showed poor reliability for both SDTC and threshold electrotonus parameters. 
      There was a significant correlation between large (sensory NET) and small (PTT) 
      fiber SDTC when all sessions were pooled (r = 0.29, p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: 
      Threshold tracking technique can be applied directly to small fibers via a 
      psychophysical readout, but with the current technique, the reliability is poor. 
      SIGNIFICANCE: Further studies are needed to examine whether Abeta-fiber SDTC may be 
      a surrogate biomarker for peripheral nociceptive signalling.
CI  - (c) 2023 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by 
      Elsevier B.V.
FAU - Pia, Hossein
AU  - Pia H
AD  - Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark.
AD  - Danish Pain Research Center, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, 
      Denmark.
FAU - Nochi, Zahra
AU  - Nochi Z
AD  - Danish Pain Research Center, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, 
      Denmark.
FAU - Kristensen, Alexander Gramm
AU  - Kristensen AG
AD  - Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark.
AD  - Danish Pain Research Center, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, 
      Denmark.
FAU - Pelz, Bernhard
AU  - Pelz B
AD  - MRC Systems GmbH, Heidelberg, Germany.
FAU - Goetz, Marcus
AU  - Goetz M
AD  - MRC Systems GmbH, Heidelberg, Germany.
FAU - Hoeink, Jan-Niclas
AU  - Hoeink JN
AD  - MRC Systems GmbH, Heidelberg, Germany.
FAU - Blockeel, Anthony James
AU  - Blockeel AJ
AD  - School of Physiology, Pharmacology & Neuroscience, University of Bristol, United 
      Kingdom.
FAU - Mouraux, Andre
AU  - Mouraux A
AD  - Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS), UCLouvain, Brussels, Belgium.
FAU - Truini, Andrea
AU  - Truini A
AD  - Department of Human Neuroscience, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy.
FAU - Finnerup, Nanna Brix
AU  - Finnerup NB
AD  - Danish Pain Research Center, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, 
      Denmark.
AD  - Department of Neurology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
FAU - Phillips, Keith Geoffrey
AU  - Phillips KG
AD  - Eli Lilly and Company, CIC Cambridge, MA, United States.
FAU - Treede, Rolf-Detlef
AU  - Treede RD
AD  - Neurophysiology Department, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, 
      Germany.
FAU - Tankisi, Hatice
AU  - Tankisi H
AD  - Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark.
AD  - Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20230330
PL  - Netherlands
TA  - Clin Neurophysiol Pract
JT  - Clinical neurophysiology practice
JID - 101684308
PMC - PMC10172996
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Motor nerve excitability testing
OT  - Pain biomarker
OT  - Perception threshold tracking
OT  - Sensory nerve excitability testing
OT  - Test-retest reliability
COIS- The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or 
      personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in 
      this paper.
EDAT- 2023/05/14 19:13
MHDA- 2023/05/14 19:14
PMCR- 2023/03/30
CRDT- 2023/05/14 12:18
PHST- 2023/02/02 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2023/03/08 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2023/03/26 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2023/05/14 19:14 [medline]
PHST- 2023/05/14 19:13 [pubmed]
PHST- 2023/05/14 12:18 [entrez]
PHST- 2023/03/30 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - S2467-981X(23)00005-7 [pii]
AID - 10.1016/j.cnp.2023.03.003 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - Clin Neurophysiol Pract. 2023 Mar 30;8:71-78. doi: 10.1016/j.cnp.2023.03.003. 
      eCollection 2023.