Normal conduction in pathways traversing an asymptomatic multiple sclerosis plaque

Mark A. Ross, Angel A. Leis, Larry Krain, Galen Mitchell

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

A 31-year-old woman developed right facial myokymia as the initial manifestation of multiple sclerosis (MS). An MRI scan revealed a focal signal abnormality confined to the left dorsolateral pontomedullary region. Brain-stem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs), somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs), and blink reflex (BR) failed to show a conduction abnormality through the left brain-stem lesion. Instead, BAEP and BR indicated a conduction defect in the right pons and EMG showed myokymic discharges in right facial muscles. Our findings provide rare documentation of normal conduction through a presumably asymptomatic MS plaque. The abnormal MRI signal likely represents tissue edema, rather than demyelination. This case demonstrates that physical findings in MS patients may correlate better with electrophysiological abnormalities than with MRI abnormalities.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)42-45
Number of pages4
JournalElectroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology/ Evoked Potentials
Volume85
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 1992

Keywords

  • Blink reflex
  • Electromyogram (EMG)
  • Evoked potentials
  • Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Myokymia

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Neuroscience
  • Clinical Neurology

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