Recommendations for the clinical use of motor evoked potentials in multiple sclerosis

Abstract Objective To establish clinical guidelines for the clinical use and interpretation of motor evoked potentials (MEP) in diagnosing and monitoring patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Recommendations for MEP use and interpretation will help us rationalise and optimise resources used in MS patient diagnosis and follow up. Method We completed an extensive literature review and pooled our own data to produce a consensus statement with recommendations for the clinical use of MEPs in the study of MS. Results MEPs, in addition to spinal and cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), help us diagnose and assess MS patients whose disease initially presents as spinal cord syndrome and those with non-specific brain MRI findings, or a normal brain MRI and clinical signs of MS. Conclusions Whenever possible, a multimodal evoked potential study should be performed on patients with suspected MS in order to demonstrate involvement of the motor pathway which supports a diagnosis of dissemination in space.