Motor control of the diaphragm in multiple sclerosis

✍ Scribed by S. Jayne Garland; Barbara A. Lavoie; William F. Brown

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 289 KB
• Volume: 19
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0148-639X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4598(199605)19:5<654::aid-mus15>3.0.co;2-n

✦ Synopsis

Fatigue is a common and often disabling feature in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) .@ Respiratory muscle weakness could contribute to fatigue and the increased sense of effort experienced by MS patients, although it has been reported as a problem only r e ~e n t l y . ' ~~' ~

We sought to investigate the possibility that motor transmission to diaphragmatic motor neurons was impaired in MS. The purpose of this study was to examine the central and peripheral transmission to the diaphragm and to determine whether this coexisted with respiratory muscle weakness. Some of these data have been reported previously in abstract METHODS Subjects. Fifteen MS patients (31-64 years old, 2 male) and 12 normal control subjects (24-52 years old, 3 male) were tested. The patients had MS for 13.8 -t 9.5 years and were minimally to moderately disabled (level 1.5-6.5, median of 6.0, on the Expanded Disability Status Scaleg). No patient had any clinical evidence of concurrent cardiorespiratory disease.