A comparative study of sensory and motor components of median nerve conduction in hypothyroid subjects

Objective: to compare the latency, amplitude, conduction velocities of motor and sensory components of median nerve in hypothyroid patients with that of normal individuals. Materials and methods: with ethical committee approval, 30 hypothyroid patients and 30 age matched controls of age groups 18-40years were included in the study, after obtaining informed written consent, detailed clinical examination, the study group was subjected to nerve conduction study the latency difference, amplitude and conduction velocity were noted and the data was analyzed with spss 16.0 version. Results: there is a significant delay in latency (sdl) and decrease in amplitude in both the sensory and motor component of median nerve (p<;0.05). Highly significant decrease in conduction velocity with minimal difference in the sensory and motor component of median nerve (p<;0.05) has been observed. Sensory involvement is earlier than motor. Conclusion: significant prolonged latencies before appearance of neurological symptoms reveal that might be due to a mononeuropathy secondary to compression caused by mucinous deposits in the soft tissues surrounding peripheral nerves. Hypothyroid patients may have preclinical asymptomatic small fiber peripheral neuropathy.