Comparative assessment of diagnostic value of electrodiagnostic methods and radiologic evaluations in patients with clinical signs of cervical radiculopathy

Background and Cervical radiculopathy is one of the most common diseases that must be diagnosed early and properly to prevent its serious side effects. For this purpose different paraclinical methods such as MRI, X-ray, EMG, NCV and SSEP are used. Each of these methods has its limitations and some of them are expensive or invassive. The aim of this study was to compare the electrodiagnostic and radiologic methods in diagnosis of cervical radiculopathy. In this study 36 patients (22 Female, l4 Male) with complaint of cervical pain radiated to upper limbs were evaluated. The evaluation included EMG, NCV, MRI, X-ray and SSEP. Exclusion criteria were fracture dislocation and infection of bone joints or soft tissues. MRI and X-ray were performed in MRI centers of Isfahan, Sepahan and Alzahra hospital in Isfahan city. MRI was graded on severity of 1 to 3. EMG, NCV and SSEP were performed in electrodiagnostic center of Alzahra hospital by one professional technician. Results were compared with text books and analyzed by SPSS software. Sensitivity of SSEP was 28.6% and specifity was 100%. Partial agreement between SSEP and MRI existed in moderate and severe cervical involvements (P = 0.005). Frequencies of abnormalities were: EMG 50%, NCV 5.6%, X-ray 33.3% and MRI 77.8%. This study shows that SSEP has lower value than EMG in diagnosis of cervical radiculopathy. Also in a patient with cervical radiculopathy, cervical MRI and EMG of upper limbs are necessary. SSEP abnormalities in the presence of moderate and severe MRI changes such as myelopathy, are more valuable. Therefore, SSEP in cervical radiculopathy is recommended before surgery.