title: The predictive value of cranial ultrasound and of somatosensory evoked potentials after nerve stimulation for adverse neurological outcome in preterm infants.
abstract: Thirty-nine preterm infants were studied to compare the predictive value of somatosensory evoked responses (SEPs) following median-nerve and posterior tibial-nerve stimulation with the predictive value of cranial ultrasound. With regard to the SEP, a normal median-nerve response was by no means a guarantee of a normal outcome. A normal posterior tibial-nerve response, however, almost guaranteed a normal outcome, but the test was very time consuming and the number of false positive responses was high (sensitivity 95.6%, specificity 50%). The presence of parenchymal involvement, either due to a haemorrhage or cystic leukomalacia predicted cerebral palsy with a sensitivity of 95.6% and specificity of 68.5%. The combination of an abnormal posterior tibial response and the presence of parenchymal brain lesions had the best predictive value with a sensitivity of 91.3% and a specificity of 81.2%. These results show that, although posterior tibial-nerve responses have a better predictive value than median-nerve responses, these values were lower than that of cranial ultrasound. The best prediction was obtained when a combination of posterior-tibial responses and cranial ultrasound was used.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neonatology, Hospital Jeanne de Flandre, Lille, France.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pierrat
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Eken
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: de Vries
mesh_terms: D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000175:diagnosis; D004453:Echoencephalography; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D007969:Leukomalacia, Periventricular / Q000175:diagnosis; D008475:Median Nerve; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013979:Tibial Nerve