title: Evaluation of brain death using somatosensory evoked potentials.
abstract: Twenty-two patients were tested for somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP). All patients had been previously diagnosed as comatose following various types of cerebral insults. SEP was performed to determine if a prognosis of brain death could be made prior to cerebral blood flow arrest or EEG silence. It was found that five patients having eight SEP peak-to-peak latencies contained within 300-msec analysis time eventually awakened from their comatose state. Seventeen patients went from coma to brain death and eventually expired; these patients had fewer than eight peak-to-peak latencies within 500-msec analysis time as well as gross frequency delays and absence of left and right hemispheric symmetry of peaks. A group of 85 normal volunteers were used to establish SEP control base lines. It is concluded that SEP analysis may be a useful adjunct that appears to precede present criteria for brain death and could provide important information on whether potential recovery of a comatose patient may be expected.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001926:Brain Death; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008475:Median Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010543:Peroneal Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology