Clinical value of ipsi- and contralateral sacral reflex latency measurement: a normative data study in man

Abstract

The latency of the bulbocavernosus reflex (BCR) evoked by electrical stimulation of the penis provides a measure of the conduction velocity over the sacral reflex arc at the S2-4 level but does not allow evaluation of the side affected since it results from the simultaneous excitation of both dorsal nerves of the penis (DNP) at the penile root. To evaluate the reliability of the side-to-side BCR latency measurement, this study compared the reflex characteristics of the response elicited by both DNP stimulation and unilateral DNP block. After a unilateral selective DNP anesthesic block, we found that the early response of the contralateral BCR is strictly ipsilateral with no differences in terms of latency, morphology, and reflex threshold from controls. This result may indicate that the side-to-side BCR latency measurement allows a comparative study of the respective right and left sacral reflex arcs in men. We found a mean inter-latency difference of 1.8 +/- 0.4 millisecond of the early BCR response after simultaneous recording of the right and left sides in 10 normal men. We established that an inter-latency difference >3 milliseconds may be indicative of a significant alteration in the conduction over the sacral reflex arc.