Clinical application of evoked potentials.
Visual, brainstem and somatosensory evoked potentials have added new dimensions to electrophysiological studies. Signal averaging has made it possible to record low-amplitude electrical potentials in the nervous system in response to external stimuli. Clinical abnormalities are indicated by latency prolongations, furnishing objective evidence for suspected or subclinical disease. The tests are most extensively used for the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Other indications include hearing and visual evaluation, especially in neonates, diagnosis of brainstem and cerebellopontine angle tumours, monitoring the integrity of sensory function during surgery for scoliosis or neurosurgical procedures and differentiating toxic or metabolic causes of coma from irreversible structural lesions. The tests are non-invasive and considered in conjunction with the clinical data provide useful electrodiagnostic tools.
D000328:Adult; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology*; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D010523:Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis