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Responses to Median and Tibial Nerve Stimulation in Patients with Chronic Neuropathic Pain

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Abstract

Somatosensory evoked magnetic fields and electrical potentials were measured in eight patients with unilateral neuropathic pain. After median nerve stimulation on the painful side, the amplitudes of the evoked responses were enhanced 2 to 3 times at a latency of about 100 ms compared to the responses of the contralateral, unaffected side. After posterior tibial nerve stimulation an enhancement was found at latencies around 110 ms and 150 ms. The scalp distribution of the magnetic field at the latencies of “abnormal” responses was dipolar and the responses could be ascribed to a current dipole. Three (of the eight) patients underwent spinal cord stimulation (SCS) for their pain. The enhancement of the evoked responses to stimulation of the painful side decreased after spinal cord stimulation. After a long period of spinal cord stimulation only (e.g., a year) during which the patient reported to be pain free, these “abnormal” responses were no longer observed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology, Medical Centre of Alkmaar, The Netherlands

    Peter J. Theuvenet

  2. Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland

    Zbigniew Dunajski

  3. Low Temperature Division, Faculty of Physics, University of Twente, The Netherlands

    Maria J. Peters

  4. Rudolf Magnus Institute for Neuro Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Jan M. van Ree

Authors
  1. Peter J. Theuvenet
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  2. Zbigniew Dunajski
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  3. Maria J. Peters
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  4. Jan M. van Ree
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Theuvenet, P.J., Dunajski, Z., Peters, M.J. et al. Responses to Median and Tibial Nerve Stimulation in Patients with Chronic Neuropathic Pain. Brain Topogr 11, 305–313 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022210704505

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