[Correlation between clinical findings and indices of stimulation electromyography in the acute stage of strokes].

In 33 patients with the acute stage of a cerebral stroke the function of the spinal centres was examined by the stimulation electromyography method. The H-reflex of the sural muscle and the late responses of the hand and foot muscles were determined in patients with truncal and hemispheric lesions on the 1st-2nd, 3d-12th, and 13th-18th days of the disease. In the patients with hemispheric lesions an increased excitability of mononeurons was on the 1st-2nd days only on the contralateral side, while in the patients with truncal lesions this symptom was bilateral: this correlated with the bilateral motor disturbances. Beginning from the 3d-5th day, as muscular hypotonicity developed the mononeuron excitability in the patients with the hemispheric lesions increased on the homolateral, and decreased on the contralateral side, while in the patients with the truncal lesions the depression of the excitability of the spinal centres was bilateral. On the 14th-18th days of the disease the excitability of the spinal centres returned to normal in the patients with the hemispheric lesions, while in those with the brain trunk involvement it still remained increased.