Abstract: Objective To provide the evidences for the choice of normal reference value of nerve conduction velocity（NCV） in clinical forensic appraisal. Methods One hundred and fourteen cases with normal peripheral nerve and 155 cases with injured peripheral nerve were collected. The NCV of homonymous nerves in two limbs were detected. In the normal cases, the NCV of the left limbs were used as the normal reference values. The NCV of the right limbs were compared with that of left limbs, the commendatory normal reference values from Beijing Xiehe Hospital and Shanghai Huashan Hospital. In the injured cases, the results of NCV in injuried limbs were compared with the results of healthy limbs and the reference values from Beijing Xiehe Hospital and Shanghai Huashan Hospital. Results In the normal group, there was no statistical difference between the left and right limbs in NCV results of homonymous nerve（P>0.05）. The false positive rates（FPR） were 0, 11.4% and 5.2% for three choices normal reference respectively. The false negative rates（FNR） were 0, 9.7% and 12.3% for three choices normal reference in injuried group. The false negative cases were all slight nerve injury. Conclusion The reference value of self-control method could decrease the FPR of normal cases and FNR of injured cases. In clinical forensic appraisal of peripheral nerve, the nerve condition study results from healthy homonymous nerve should be regarded as the reference value at first, supplemented by reference values from clinical labs.

Key words: forensic medicine, neural conduction, peripheral nerves, reference values