Table 2: Electrodiagnostic medicine, indications and common diagnoses

Indications for electrodiagnostic studies8

  1. Identify normal and abnormal nerve, muscle, motor and sensory, and neuromuscular junction functioning.
  2. Localize region(s) of abnormal function.
  3. Define the type of abnormal function.
  4. Determine the distribution of abnormalities.
  5. Determine the severity of abnormalities.
  6. Estimate the date of a specific nerve injury.
  7. Estimate the duration of the disease.
  8. Determine the progression of abnormalities or of recovery from abnormal function.
  9. Aid in diagnosis and prognosis of disease.
  10. Aid in selecting treatment options.
  11. Aid in following response to treatment by providing objective evidence of change in neuromuscular function.
  12. Localize correct locations for injection of intramuscular agents (e.g., botulinum toxin).
     
Common diagnoses in electrodiagnostic medicine9
Myopathies
   Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (polymyositis, dermatomyositis), muscular dystrophies, other myopathies, myotonic disorders
Neuromuscular junction disorders
   Myasthenia gravis, Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome
Polyneuropathies
   Demyelinating polyneuropathies, (acute and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy), hereditary motor sensory neuropathies, axonal polyneuropathies
Mononeuropathies
   Carpal tunnel syndrome, ulnar neuropathy at the elbow, peroneal nerve palsy, other entrapment neuropathies, Bell's palsy
Multiple mononeuropathies
    
Nerve trauma
    
Plexopathies
    
Radiculopathies
   Cervical radiculopathy, lumbrosacral radiculopathy
Neuronopathies
   Motor neuron disease, spinal muscular atrophy, poliomyelitis, dorsal root ganglionopathy
Central nervous system disorders
   Movement disorders (tremor, myoclonus, dystonia, hemifacial spasm)