Acta Otolaryngol Suppl. 1988 ; 446(): 64-9.

Nerve excitability test using fine needle electrodes.

Kobayashi T, Kudo Y, Chow MJ.

Department of Otolaryngology, Central Hospital of Japanese National Railways, Tokyo.

The NET using needle electrodes is a simple and useful test. Children readily tolerate the procedure. For prognosticative purposes it is more effective than the conventional NET using surface electrodes. When positive responses to NET using needle electrodes are recorded after 3 days from onset of palsy, irrespective of the absolute threshold value, prognosis is good. In Bell's palsy, NET is positive for 90%, and for 73% in Hunt's syndrome. Apart from one case our patients showed complete recovery by EMG evaluation.