Sustained atypical myokymia of the abductor pollicis brevis with a focal slowing of the median nerve motor axons at the wrist

Abstract

Objective: We report a case of sustained atypical myokymia associated with short bursts of neuromyotonic discharges involving the abductor pollicis brevis (APB) muscle and describe a useful way of detecting a focal slowing involving a small number of median nerve motor fibers with a concentric needle using the filter setting for single fiber electromyography (EMG). Methods and Results: A 62-year-old woman developed right thumb twitches at regular interval of 1.7–3.3 s (0.6–0.3 Hz), which continued for more than four months. Muscle twitches remained the same during altered hand position, psychological stress, or sleep. A concentric needle inserted in the active zone of the APB muscle revealed myokymic bursts with a characteristic of neuromyotonic discharges. Inching study, stimulating at 5 mm increment along the median nerve and recording with a concentric needle using a filter setting for single fiber EMG, revealed a focal slowing of the motor fibers at a point 5–10 mm distal from the distal crease of the wrist, an entrapment site occasionally seen in the carpal tunnel syndrome. One injection of botulinum toxin type A eliminated the myokymia, which then recurred two and a half years later, showing less prominent muscle twitches. Conclusions: Sustained atypical myokymia seen in our case represented bursts of neuromyotonic discharges originated from a focal demyelinating lesion involving a few median nerve motor fibers.

Keywords

• Myokymia
• Neuromyotonic discharge
• Inching study
• Single fiber EMG
• Filter
• Botulinum toxin