The interobserver and intraobserver reliability of the Rydel-Seiffer (RS) graduated tuning fork was evaluated in 113 patients with a clinically stable immune mediated polyneuropathy (83 patients who had had Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) in the past, 22 with a chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), and eight with a polyneuropathy associated with a gammopathy of undetermined significance). Additionally, the responsiveness of this instrument was serially investigated in 20 patients with recently diagnosed GBS or CIDP and changing clinical conditions. The measures were done in triplicate at eight different locations in the limbs and the values were compared with the recently published vibration threshold reference values. Good interobserver and intraobserver agreements (quadratic weighted kappa=0.67-0.98) and high responsiveness values (standardised response mean scores>0.8) were demonstrated for the RS tuning fork. These results provide, in addition to literature findings, further evidence for incorporation of this easily applicable instrument in routine neurological examination.

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hdl.handle.net/1765/9315
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry: an international peer-reviewed journal for health professionals and researchers in all areas of neurology and neurosurgery
Erasmus MC: University Medical Center Rotterdam

Merkies, I., Schmitz, P., van der Meché, F., & van Doorn, P. (2000). Reliability and responsiveness of a graduated tuning fork in immune mediated polyneuropathies. The Inflammatory Neuropathy Cause and Treatment (INCAT) Group. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry: an international peer-reviewed journal for health professionals and researchers in all areas of neurology and neurosurgery. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1765/9315