The role of magnetic stimulation as a quantifier of motor disability in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Magnetic stimulation was used to measure motor conduction time (MCT) between head and neck in a prospective longitudinal study of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and normal subjects. MCT measurements showed a high degree of reproducibility in normal subjects and patients with stable MS. In patients with definite MS, there was significant positive correlation between MCT and motor disability. In patients treated with steroids for relapse of MS, there was significant shortening of MCT following treatment in those who clinically improved, but not in those who were clinically unchanged. In a smaller group of patients followed for 3 months, MCT changes tended to mirror the clinical pattern. Magnetic stimulation should prove a useful tool for the quantification of motor disability, and monitoring the response to new treatments in MS.