Non-invasive determination of the distribution of the conduction velocity of the large-diameter fibers in peripheral nerves. Estimate based upon a single recording of the stimulus response of the nerve.

The paper describes a method for the estimation of the frequency of occurrence of fibers with a given conduction velocity among the stronger myelinated fibers of superficial nerves. The method is primarily suited for the examination of sensory nerves. To mixed nerves it can be applied only if interference by excited myopotentials is sufficiently weak. A single averaged recording of the compound action potential of the nerve evoked by a supra-maximal electrical stimulus serves as input. It is shown that integration of that curve with respect to time yields an amplitude weighted graph of the density of fibers with given travel times between the stimulus site and the recording electrode. Unweighting that curve yields the distribution characteristic of the travel delays which can easily be converted to a graph of the conduction velocity density of the fibers in the excited ensemble.