Abstract: Objective To analyze the changes of nerve conduction of median nerves in acute stage of shoulder-hand syndrome (SHS) after stroke. Methods 50 stroke patients with SHS in the acute stage were selected as SHS group, 50 stroke patients without SHS was selected as N-SHS group, and 50 non-stroke and without SHS patients were selected as N-S group. The detection of bilateral nerve conduction of median nerve included sensory and motor nerve conduction, and F wave. Results In SHS group, the sensory nerve action potential amplitude (SNAP) and compound muscle action potential amplitude (CMAP) of median nerve of the affected hand were lower than that of the unaffected hand (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in sensory conduction velocity (SCV), distal motor latency (DML) and F wave latency of the median nerve between the affected and the unaffected hand in SHS group (P>0.05). The SCV of median nerve was slower, the SNAP and CMAP were lower in SHS group than in N-SHS group and N-S group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in DML and F wave latency among 3 groups (P>0.05). Conclusion The median nerve on the affected hand is impaired in acute stage of SHS after stroke.The lesion is mostly located in the distal end of median nerve, and is mainly the dystrophy of axonal neuropathy, which indicates that the lesion in the distal segment of median nerve is an essential expression of SHS after stroke.

Key words: stroke, shoulder-hand syndrome, median nerve