Abstract
The trigeminal masseter reflex (MassR) is a true monosynaptic brain-stem reflex. It plays an important role in routine neurological examination and can be of great value, e.g., in the differentiation of spasticity of supraspinal and of spinal origin. Basically, the MassR is a unilateral reflex, the responses of the two sides being independent of each other [3]. Clinically, however, we observe only the jaw movement, and diagnostically important differences between the responses of the two masseter muscles can hardly be evaluated. Electromyographic analysis of the MassR provides a means of assessing the unilateral reflex responses selectively, especially with regard to quantitative parameters such as latency and amplitude. This makes the electromyographic recording of the MassR, whose central pathways run through pontine and mesencephalic areas, a valuable diagnostic tool in brain-stem disorders. The following contribution is an attempt to illustrate the role of the electromyographically recorded MassR in the topodiagnosis of brain-stem lesions.
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© 1993 Springer-Verlag Berlin · Heidelberg
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Dengler, R. (1993). The Masseter Reflex in the Topodiagnosis of Brain-Stem Lesions. In: Caplan, L.R., Hopf, H.C. (eds) Brain-Stem Localization and Function. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78172-8_22
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78172-8_22
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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