title: Somatosensory evoked cortical potentials indicating impaired motor development in infancy.
abstract: Somatosensory evoked cortical potentials were performed on 120 infants between one and 10 months of age because impaired development was suspected on the basis of their histories or clinical findings. All but two had a follow-up examination after their first birthday. Of the 120 infants, 47 presented with only minor perinatal risks: these had normal neurological and developmental findings in infancy and at follow-up and they formed the control group. 73 infants initially had developmental delay or abnormal neurological findings: at follow-up 35 were normal and 38 had pathological conditions (16 general psychomotor retardation, 15 cerebral palsy, four degenerative and three neurometabolic diseases of the CNS). Marked prolongation of N1 peak latencies (greater than 2ms) above the two-sigma border, or absence of potentials on one or both sides, indicated handicap after their first birthday in all 19 infants showing such alterations. The author concludes that these marked alterations have a high prognostic value.
mesh_terms: D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012306:Risk