Clinical and radiological correlates of somatosensory evoked potentials in the late phase of head injury: a study of 500 Vietnam veterans.
Somatosensory evoked potentials were obtained after median nerve stimulation in 500 Vietnam veterans surviving penetrating head wounds 12-16 years earlier and 76 age-matched, uninjured controls. The results were studied in relation to neurologic history and findings, anatomical data provided by CT scan, and information derived from electroencephalograms. Thirty-five percent of head-injured individuals had abnormal SEPs and 76% of SEP abnormalities consisted of absence of N20 or N20/P25 complex. SEP abnormality correlated (P greater than 0.001) with the extent of total brain volume loss, sensory deficits (especially position and cortical discriminatory modalities), hemiparesis, organic mental disorder, CT evidence of parietal or thalamic injury, and centro-parietal EEG abnormalities. Recovery from hemiparesis was correlative with patients who subsequently had normal SEPs.
D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory; D006801:Humans; D011859:Radiography; D014728:Veterans; D014744:Vietnam; D014857:Warfare