Evaluation of peripheral nerve conduction and visual evoked potential in newly diagnosed hypothyroid females.

Background: Hypothyroidism is a common medical condition in the general population. Usually hypothyroidism has both central and peripheral nerve involvement. The neurologic manifestations occur in conjunction with the systemic features of the disease and may be noted only incidentally. The peripheral neuropathy can be assessed using the sensory motor nerve conduction studies, which is a non-invasive method. Visual Evoked Potentials (VEPs) are electrical potential differences recorded from the scalp in response to visual stimuli. Aim: To study the motor and sensory nerve conduction in the Median nerve and Visual Evoked Potential in the newly diagnosed hypothyroid females. Materials and methods: The sample size is 30. The study design is a cross sectional study. Sensorimotor nerve conduction of the Median nerve and the VEP was done using NEUROSTIM NS2 machine, in the department of Physiology, Meenakshi Medical College, Hospital and Research Institute. The statistical analysis was done by Student unpaired t' test using SPSS software 17 version. Result: There was a significant in the nerve conduction of both motor and sensory components of the cases when compared to the controls. There was statistically significant prolongation of latency P 100 wave of VEP in the study group compared to the control group. Conclusion: Both peripheral and central nervous system are affected in hypothyroidism. To conclude, electrophysiological studies can be useful in the diagnosis of asymptomatic poly neuropathy in hypothyroid patients.