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5.Clinical assessment of lower limb dystonia in hepatolenticular degeneration based on surface electromyography signal features

Yun XU ; Yongsheng HAN

Journal of Apoplexy and Nervous Diseases 2025;42(1):13-18

Objective To investigate the features of surface electromyography （sEMG） signals in patients with lower limb dystonia and hepatolenticular degeneration， also known as Wilson disease （WD）， as well as the feasibility of sEMG as an assessment tool for lower limb dystonia in WD. Methods A total of 36 WD patients with lower limb dystonia （observation group） and 20 WD patients without lower limb dystonia （control group） were enrolled， and 20 normal subjects were enrolled as healthy group. The sEMG technique was used to measure the AEMG， MF， MPF， and iEMG values of the anterior tibial muscle， the gastrocnemius muscle， and the rectus femoris muscle in the walking state， and a Spearman’s rank correlation analysis was used to investigate the correlation of the iEMG value of the rectus femoris muscle in both lower limbs with Activities of Daily Living （ADL）， the neurological subscale of Unified Wilson’s Disease Rating Scale （UWDRS-I）， the Burke-Fahn-Marsden Dystonia Rating Scale （BFMDRS）， the Modified Ashworth Scale， and 10-meter walking time. The observation group and the healthy group were compared in terms of the symmetry index （SI） of the same-named muscles on both sides， and the correlation of SI value with scale scores and walking time was analyzed for the observation group. Results There were significant differences in iEMG values and all electromyography values of the rectus femoris muscle between the three groups （P<0.05）. In the observation group， the iEMG value of the rectus femoris muscle was negatively correlated with the ADL scale and was positively correlated with dystonia-related scales and 10-meter walking time， suggesting that the iEMG value of the rectus femoris muscle could reflect the severity of lower limb dystonia in WD. Meanwhile， there were significant differences in the SI values of bilateral muscles between the observation group and the healthy group （P<0.05）， and for the observation group， the SI values of the muscles were negatively correlated with the ADL scale and were positively correlated with other variables， suggesting that lower limb dystonia in WD was asymmetric， and the degree of asymmetry was positively correlated with the degree of dystonia. Conclusion This study shows that sEMG has a certain application value in assessing lower limb dystonia in WD patients and can be used as an assessment tool for lower limb dystonia in WD.
Dystonia