APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR THE AUTOMATED MEASUREMENT OF SURAL NERVE CONDUCTION VELOCITY AND AMPLITUDE

摘要

Apparatus for measuring sural nerve conduction velocity and amplitude, the apparatus comprising: a housing; stimulation means mounted to the housing for electrically stimulating a human sural nerve; a biosensor releasably mounted to the housing, the biosensor comprising a plurality of electrodes for detecting a sural nerve response evoked by the stimulation means; acquisition means mounted to the housing and electrically connected to the biosensor for electrically acquiring the sural nerve response detected by the biosensor; processing means mounted to the housing and electrically connected to the acquisition means for digitizing, processing and storing the acquired sural nerve response; calculation means mounted to the housing and electrically connected to the processing means for calculating the conduction velocity and amplitude of the processed sural nerve response; and display means mounted to the housing for displaying the sural nerve conduction velocity and amplitude; wherein the stimulation means and the biosensor are designed to be placed on a patient's anatomy, in the vicinity of a sural nerve, by manipulating the housing.