Week 15: electroneuronography Flashcards
what portion of the VII nerve is motor and what is sensory
2/3 motor and 1/3 sensory so mainly a motor nerve
what muscles does the facial nerve innervate
facial muscles, stapedius, stylohyoid, and digastrics muscles
what are the two main branches of the facial muscle?
temporal and cervical
what are the 5 divisions of the facial muscle
temporal zygomatic buccal mandibular cervical *note that the buccal branch allows communication between the zygomatic and mandibular branches
what do we look for visually to cue for a facial nerve lesions
- forehead= corrugation
- eyes= orbicularis occuli
- nasolabial fold
- mouth= purse lips
- cheeks= inflate cheeks
- symmetry of both sides
what are the 4 ways we can look for facial nerve functioning
- clinically with facial grading system
- imaging:
- –MRI with IV gadolinium contrast to see VII nerve tumor in the CPA and temporal bone, or parotid gland tumors
- –CT scan for cholesteatomas and temporal bone trauma
- electrophysiologically
- –stimulation and recording techniques
- –interpretation and reporting guidelines
- histologically
house-brackman system for facial nerve paralysis grading
- 1=none=normal function in all areas
- 2=mild= slight weakness on close inspection, synkinesis
- 3= moderate= obvious but not disfiguring asymmetry
- 4=moderately severe= obvious, disfiguring asymmetry; normal appearance at rest
- 5= severe= barely perceptible motion; asymmetry at rest
- 6=total= no perceptible motion
histological sunderland classifications of 7th nerve damage
*grade 1= neuropraxia= conduction block and is just a bit of compression on the axon, no real injury
*grade 2= axonotmesis= axonal discontinuity/injury to the axon
*grade 3= neurotemisis type 2= the tube (endoneurem) and axon are disrupted neurotemisis which has grades
*grade 4= neurotemeisis type 3 which is where the epineurium is also affected
grade 5= neurotemisis type 4 which is where is entire nerve is injured and is broken
—wallerian generation degeneration is anything more than grade 1
what electrophysical tests are used to see VII nerve injury
- nerve excitability test (NET)
- maximal stimulation test (MST)
- electromyography (EMG)
- electroneurography (ENoG)
- determining prognosis
- –rarely in differential diagnosis
- classifying nonsurgical vs surgical management
- IOM of VII nerve function (usually with EMG)
NET (nerve excitability test)
*useful only during the first 2-3 weeks of complete paralysis, before complete degeneration has occurred to determine whether a pure conduction block exists or whether degeneration is ocurring
*the stimulating electrode is placed on the skin over the stylomastoid foramen or over one of the peripheral branches of the nerve
*beginning with the healthy side, electrical pulses steadily increasing current levels until a facial twitch is noted
*the lowest current eliciting a visable twitch is the threshold of excitation
*next the process is repeated on the paralyzed side
*a difference of 3.5 milliamps or more is a sign of severe degeneration and an indicator for surgical
decompression
—simple conduction block would have no difference between the sides
MST (maximal stimulation test)
- stimulating all intact axons
- nerve-stimulating equipment are the same as the NET. *Maximal stimuli or supramaximal stimuli are used
- –start at 5mA and increase to the level of the patient’s tolerance
- on the unaffected side, the stimulus current intensity is increase until the maximum stimulation level
- this level is then used to stimulate the affected side
- –the degree of facial contraction is subjectively assessed as either equal, mildly decreased, markedly decreased, or without response compared to that of the normal side (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%)
the beginning of ENoG
*developed by Esslen and Fisch in 1979
what does ENoG show
the distal VII nerve function
*we record the facial nerve function from the peripheral (aka from the muscles of the face) and we record from each side and compare the latency and amplitude of the N1, P1, N2 wave
overview of ENoG testing
- used in Bell’s palsy, trauma, otitis media
- –not useful in Ramsay Hunt because the virus causing this gives severe nerve problems and multiple sites of facial nerve lesions
- VII nerve is stimulated transcutaneously (as in NET) or using a bipolar stimulating electrode
- comparing responses from both sides to maximal electrical stimulation (as in MST)
- –compound muscle action potential (CMAP)
- normally: the average difference in response amplitude between the two sides is only 3%
why is Enog measured
- to see the extent of VII nerve degeneration (wallerian degeneration=WD=% of neural fibers that are no longer responding
- comparing the response amplitude (and latency) of both sides
how would a tumor affect your ENoG response
increase latency and decrease amplitude
—decrease amplitude= increasing tumor size
how to assess abnormal amplitude responses
*if the response on the paralyzed side is 10% of that on the normal side then 90% of the fibers are severely degenerated and so on
when do you do ENoG (timing)
- initial/baseline ENoG most useful between 4-21 days post insult
- –not before 72 hrs post-insult because WD takes 3 days to occur
- –not after 3 wks; false positive from deblocking
- serial ENoG, every 3-5 days
- –document improvement or further degereration
- response is affected by neuroblockers–which cause chemical paralysis of VII muscles