Reliability of lower limb motor evoked potentials in stroke and healthy populations: How many responses are needed?

Highlights: Abstract: Objective: To determine the intra- and inter-session reliability of motor evoked potential (MEP) size parameters in the lower limb of patients with stroke, focussing on the number of MEPs collected and the method of measuring MEP size.Methods: Transcranial magnetic stimulation was used to elicit MEPs in the soleus muscle of patients with stroke (n=13) and age-matched healthy participants (n=13) during low level muscle activation. Two sets of 10 responses were collected in the first session and a further 10 responses collected in a second session held 7days later. Four MEP size measurements were made using 4, 6, 8, or all 10 of the MEPs collected. Intra- and inter-session reliability was examined using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and typical percentage error.Results: Intrasession ICC statistics using 6 or more MEPs were >0.85 in the stroke group but intersession values were all
Source: Clinical Neurophysiology - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Tags: Movement, Motor Control and Movement Disorders Source Type: research