Fig. 3

Short-term variability of tibial and peroneal motor nerve induced excitability with serial stimulation. patient 1:day 7 after sepsis onset-; repeated series of distal stimulation of the peroneal (upper panel) and tibial nerves (lower panel), only 6 min apart, showing short-term FP variability, on right (a) and on left (b) the peroneal nerve induces abnormally low CMAPs without FP; both tibial nerves induce FP: c 1st CMAP with 2nd stimulus at the right tibial nerve showing still abnormally low maximal CMAPs; d now an immediate 1st CMAP appears; maximal CMAP amplitudes are induced by stimulating the left tibial nerve reaching normal range; note the different shape of the FP pattern when compared to c. Bargraphs: amplitudes of the original recordings. Horizontal scale: sequence of stimuli applied