Evaluation of electrical activity at the carpal tunnel area in response to median nerve elbow stimulation using magnetoneurography

Objective: To develop a magnetic field measurement method in the carpal tunnel area in response to elec-trical median nerve stimulation at the elbow and evaluate its usefulness. Methods: Five healthy subjects participated. The magnetic field recording evoked by median nerve elec-trical stimulation at the elbow with electrical intensity that minimized the pronator quadratus and flexor carpi radialis muscle response was measured with 132-channel superconducting quantum interference device magnetoneurography. The current distributions were reconstructed from magnetic fields with the spatial filter method. The magnetic fields evoked by electrical stimulation at the index distal inter-phalangeal joint were also measured. Results: After median nerve elbow stimulation, intra-axonal current and inward currents flowing perpen-dicularly to the nerve pathway were visualized. The mean +/- SD inward current intensity at the center of the carpal tunnel area was significantly larger with elbow stimulation than with index distal interpha-langeal joint stimulation: 1.11 +/- 0.65 nAm versus 0.51 +/- 0.15 nAm (p = 0.047).Conclusions: Magnetic field measurement in the carpal tunnel area with adjusted submaximal stimula-tion at the elbow can detect larger signals compared with digit stimulation. Significance: This method has the potential to be more useful for the examination of carpal tunnel syn-drome patients. (c) 2023 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

This study developed a method to measure magnetic fields in the carpal tunnel area by electrical stimulation at the elbow, and evaluated its usefulness. The results showed that the inward current intensity in the center of the carpal tunnel area was significantly larger with elbow stimulation compared to index distal inter-phalangeal joint stimulation.