The silent period in pure sensory neuronopathy.

"Normal" electromyographic silent periods (SPs), produced by electrical stimulation of digital nerves, were recorded in the voluntarily contracting abductor pollicis brevis (APB) muscle of a patient with pure sensory neuronopathy and absent sensory nerve action potentials (SNAPs). Such findings implicate the smaller, slower conducting fibers in the genesis of the cutaneous silent period. These same fibers may be activated during more proximal stimulation to contribute to the latter portions of the mixed nerve silent period.