Background

In clinical practice, small myelinated sensory fibers, Aδ-fibers, conveying mainly pain and temperature sensations, cannot be examined with available nerve conduction study techniques. Currently, these fibers can only be examined with experimental or very specialized and not commonly available nerve conduction techniques, or only indirectly with cerebral evoked potentials.

New Method

This study uses equipment and methods available in clinical neurophysiology laboratories to record from human sensory nerves ≥1000 averaged responses to focal, non-painful stimuli applied by a special electrode to epidermal nerves. The averaged responses to odd numbered stimuli are compared to the averaged responses to even numbered stimuli. An algorithm identifies potentials common in both averages. The 99^th and 99.9^th percentiles for this algorithm are obtained from control records without stimulation and applied to records with stimulation to identify potentials resulting from stimulation of intraepidermal nerves.

Results

The algorithm identifies numerous negative and positive potentials as being different from controls at the 99th and 99.9^th percentile levels. The conduction velocities of the potentials range from of 1.3–29.9 m/s and are compatible with conduction velocities of Aδ-fibers.

Comparison with existing Method(s)

No existing methods.

Conclusions

The stimulation, recording and data analysis methods used in this study can be applied in the clinical EMG laboratory to identify Aδ-fibers in human sensory nerves.