ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF FOOT DROP

Abstract

Foot drop can be a presentation of many causes. Most of them initially present with same signs and symptoms, e.g. foot drop, numbness over lateral aspect of the leg and dorsum of the foot especially peroneal nerve lesions, sciatic nerve lesions, L5 radiculopathy. It poses a lot of diagnostic problems .No study has been published in local literature to highlight this very important subject .Aim and objective of this study is to highlight the importance of electrodiagnostic studies in predicting prognosis, localizing lesions, pathophysiological changes and monitoring recovery.

Cohort and observational study.

This study was carried out at Armed Forces Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine [AFIRM] Rawalpindi from July 2001 to June 2002.

Nerve conduction studies were performed with MS-6 (MEDLEC) using surface electrodes. Concentric needle electromyography was done using Neuropack electromyographic model MEM-7102K.  On the basis of electrophysiological studies out of fifty, thirty patients had axonal while 20 patients had demyelinating lesions. Patients were divided into two groups on the basis of axonal and demyelinating lesions.

In group A out of 30, (n=30) there were 14 (46.64%) and group B out of 20, (n=20) 7 patients (35%) of foot drop were due to peroneal nerve lesions, rest of the patients had L5 radiculopathy, Sciatic nerve lesions, Polyneuropathy and other abnormalities.  Electrodiagnostic studies serves as an important tool in localizing the lesion and assessing its severity in different causes of foot drop.