| Institution: | 1. Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China;2. China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing, China;3. Department of Neurology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, Beijing, China;4. Division of Clinical Electrophysiology, Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA;1. Brain & Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, N.S.W. 2006, Australia;2. Sorbonne Université, INSERM, CNRS, Laboratoire d’Imagerie Biomédicale, LIB, F-75006 Paris, France;3. Department of Neurological Science and Biomedical Neuroscience Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile;4. Department of Neurology, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and The University of Sydney, N.S.W. 2006, Australia;1. Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS - UOC Neurologia – Dipartmento Scienze dell’Invecchiamento, Neurologiche, Ortopediche e della Testa-Collo, Rome, Italy;2. Department of Psychology, Area of Neuroscience, University of Rome ‘Sapienza’, Rome, Italy;3. Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Istituto di Neurologia, Rome, Italy;4. Area of Neuroscience, IRCCS San Raffaele-Pisana, Rome, Italy |
| Abstract: | ObjectiveTo establish age-related characteristics and normative values of F waves in healthy Chinese infants.MethodsWe studied median, ulnar and tibial nerves on one side distally in 229 healthy Chinese infants (108 males) ranging from 1 to 12 months old.ResultsMinimal F-wave latencies (Fmin) showed a strong negative correlation to the age for median, ulnar and tibial nerves (P < 0.01) but no correlation to the height. Statistical analyses revealed a significant (P < 0.01) decrease of Fmin during the second month of life and no change (P > 0.05) thereafter. Dividing the infants into 1 month old (Group 1) and 2–12 months old (Group 2), normal values (Mean ± SD ms) of Fmin for tibial, median and ulnar nerves consisted of 23.38 ± 1.68, 17.19 ± 0.95 and 16.47 ± 1.06 for Group 1 and 21.42 ± 1.25, 14.50 ± 1.15 and 14.52 ± 0.90 for Group 2.ConclusionF-wave latencies shorten in the 2nd month of life and change little thereafter when age-related maturation counters the concomitant growth of the nerve length.SignificanceF waves can assess infantile neuropathies as a reliable measure, complementing the technically difficult conventional nerve conduction study in short limbs. |
