We reviewed data from 234 consecutive LTM-sessions (221 patients) over a 2-year period. In 44 % of the cases the LTM was diagnostically useful. There were no significant differences concerning diagnostic usefulness among the main referral groups: diagnostic (41 % ), classification (41 % ) and presurgical (55 % ). Diagnostic usefulness did not differ among the age groups either. The duration of the successful LTM-sessions was significantly longer in the presurgical group (mean: 3.5 days) than in the diagnostic and classification groups (2.4 and 2.3 days, respectively). We conclude that LTM is a valuable diagnostic tool even in patients extensively investigated before the monitoring, and is equally effective in the referral and age groups. However, patients referred for presurgical evaluation need considerably longer LTM, and this should be taken into account when planning the resources and calculating the costs.