Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology 2025;27(2):21-32

doi:10.14253/acn.25005

Somatosensory evoked potentials versus magnetospinography and magnetoneurography: is there a need for a new diagnostic modality in brachial plexus, cervical roots and spinal cord neurophysiology?

Pegah AFRA 1 ; Glenn D. R. WATSON

Affiliations

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Country

Republic of Korea

Language

English

Abstract

The electrical signals that pass through neuronal structures generate electrical currents and magnetic fields that can be measured by different electrography and magnetography modalities. In this article, we briefly review the fundamentals of recording bioelectrical currents and biomagnetic fields. This is followed by an analysis of the neurophysiologic substrates of the brachial plexus, cervical roots, and spinal cord, comparing the electrography-based modality of somatosensory evoked potential with the magnetography-based modality of magnetospinography/magnetoneurography (MSG/MNG). We aim to illustrate that MSG/MNG has the potential to address the shortcomings that currently exist in electrography modalities for direct neurophysiologic assessment of the aforementioned neural structures.