Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology
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The aim of this review is to present the status of electrodiagnostic standards and guidelines in neuromuscular disorders. Electrodiagnostic guidelines are developed on the background of medical technology assessment, wherefore a short presentation of medical technology assessment is given covering: (1) Evidence-based medicine, i.e. "to do the right thing", describing practice parameters and the STARD initiative which introduces evidence-based medicine in electrodiagnostic medicine, (2) Continuous quality improvement, i.e. "to do the thing right", describing variation among laboratories in methods and interpretation of tests, and the need for medical audit and implementation of electrodiagnostic guidelines, (3) Outcome studies, i.e. "is it worthwhile to do the right thing right?". In electrodiagnostic medicine there are very few outcome studies. ⋯ If no electrodiagnostic criteria for a given disorder exist, criteria for the electrodiagnostic examination are described if present. It is concluded that future research is needed in order to develop more electrodiagnostic guidelines in neuromuscular disorders by international expert consensus groups. Such research should use an evidence-based medicine approach and medical technology assessment and include continuous quality development and outcome studies.