title: The role of somatosensory evoked potentials in spinal dysraphism--do they have a prognostic significance?
abstract: Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) are not routinely used in spinal dysraphism. In this study 38 patients (29 children and 9 adults) with spinal dysraphism were prospectively studied with the objective of evaluating whether SEPs were a prognostic tool that could be used to predict clinical improvement after repair of a spinal dysraphic lesion. For all patients, preoperative SEP and postoperative SEP (within 1 week of operation) were recorded. Fifteen of these patients also had follow-up postoperative SEP recordings taken within 3 months of operation. A clinical examination was performed at the time of each SEP. Thirty patients had tethered cord, 12 had diastematomyelia and 15 had intra- and/or extradural tumours, which included lipomas and dermoid and epidermoid tumours. Twenty-one children and all adults had abnormal preoperative SEPs. Sixteen children and 4 adults had improved SEPs postoperatively. All these children and 2 of the 4 adults also experienced clinical improvement. Improvement in SEPs preceded clinical improvement in 12/20 patients. We observe that SEPs have a good prognostic value.
authors.affiliation: Neurosciences Centre, A.I.I.M.S., New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Kale
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Mahapatra
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009420:Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology; D011184:Postoperative Period; D011379:Prognosis; D016135:Spinal Dysraphism / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D016896:Treatment Outcome