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Handheld Electrical Impedance Myography Probe for Assessing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

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Abstract

Electrical impedance myography (EIM) is a novel, noninvasive, and painless technique for quantitatively assessing muscle health as well as disease status and progression. The preparatory work for commercial adhesive electrodes used in previous EIM measurements is tedious, as the electrodes need to be cut, repeatedly applied, and removed. Moreover, the electrode distances need to be measured many times. To overcome these problems, we developed a convenient and practical handheld EIM probe for assessing carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) in the small hand muscles. To reduce the electrode–skin contact impedance (ESCI), the micropillared and microholed stainless steel electrodes (SSEs) contained in the probe were fabricated using a laser processing technique. When covered with saline, these electrodes showed lower ESCIs than a smooth SSE and Ag/AgCl electrode. The probe was shown to have excellent test–retest reproducibility in both healthy subjects and CTS patients, with intraclass correlation coefficients exceeding 0.975. The reactance and phase values of the abductor pollicis brevis (affected muscle) for CTS patients were consistently lower than those for healthy subjects, with a 50-kHz difference of 37.1% (p < 0.001) and 31.0% (p < 0.001), respectively. Further, no significant differences were detected in the case of the abductor digiti minimi (unaffected muscle). These results indicate that EIM has considerable potential for CTS assessment and hence merits further investigation.

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Abbreviations

ADM:

Abductor digiti minimi

ALS:

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

APB:

Abductor pollicis brevis

CMAP:

Compound motor action potential

CTS:

Carpal tunnel syndrome

DML:

Distal motor latency

EIM:

Electrical impedance myography

ESCI:

Electrode-skin contact impedance

ICC:

Intraclass correlation coefficient

SNAP:

Sensory nerve action potential

SNCV:

Sensory nerve conduction velocity

SSE:

Stainless steel electrode

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61376072, 61334008). The authors acknowledge the support of the Department of Hand Surgery, HuaShan Hospital of Fudan University.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. State Key Laboratory on Integrated Optoelectronics, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100083, China

      Zhao Li, Qingquan Wei, Wenwen Liu & Yude Yu

    2. Department of Hand Surgery, Huashan Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, 200040, China

      Lingfen Chen & Dong Tian

    3. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Upstate Medical University at Syracuse, State University of New York, Syracuse, NY, USA

      Yu Zhu

    4. College of Materials Science and Opto-Electronic Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

      Yude Yu

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    1. Zhao Li
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    Correspondence to Dong Tian or Yude Yu.

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    Associate Editor Estefanía Peña oversaw the review of this article.

    Zhao Li and Lingfen Chen have contributed equally to this study and share first authorship.

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    Li, Z., Chen, L., Zhu, Y. et al. Handheld Electrical Impedance Myography Probe for Assessing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Ann Biomed Eng 45, 1572–1580 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-017-1819-3

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-017-1819-3

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