Diagnostic Value of Single Fiber Electromyography in Myasthenia Gravis in Korea

J Korean Neurol Assoc > Volume 6(2); 1988 > Article

Journal of the Korean Neurological Association 1988;6(2): 209-217.

중증근무력증에 있어서 단섬유근전도 검사의 진단적 가치

연세대학교 신경과.

Diagnostic Value of Single Fiber Electromyography in Myasthenia Gravis in Korea

Il-Nam Sunwoo,M.D.

Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, Yonsei University

Abstract

Single fiber electromygraphy (SFEMG) is a special EMG technique to study the microphysiology of the motor unit in humans including the functional status of individual motor end-plates in situ, and is known to be a useful test for the diagnosis of neuromuscular juction disorders. To determine the clinical applicability of SFEMFG in this country, 74 SFEMG datas of 61 patients including 54 of myasthenia gravis have been analyzed. The overall ensitivity of SFEMG in myasthenia gravis was high upto 88% and almost all patients with generalized myasthenia gravis showed significant jittering. But the specificity of SFEMG was relatively low(57%) and SFEMG could not clearly differentiate various types of myasthenia gravis. In my experience, SFEMG is a expensive and time-consuming test and I think, at present, SFEMG might have some limitations in clinical usability in this country by the aspect of costeffectiveness.