[Standards for carrying out and interpreting visual evoked potentials in children].
BACKGROUND
An essential step, prior to the introduction into paediatric practice of visual evoked potentials (VEP) caused by stimulation with light emitting diodes (LED) is their description at different stages of maturity of the nervous system.


METHODS
We obtained VEP to LED in a group of 60 children aged between 1 and 5 years, who were functionally healthy and equally distributed with regard to age and sex. In each case we recorded the responses to monocular stimulation (right and left), binocular stimulation and without stimulation (replicas of each condition). The recordings were made under sedation with secobarbital at a dose of 3 mg/kg body weight.


RESULTS
Our results showed a significant reduction in the latency of all components (except P3) and the amplitude of N1 and P1, as a function of the age of the child. The response to LED is reproducible (especially intra individual) with up to three types of morphology observed. Sedation did not affect detection of the response. The only significant effect was a reduction in the amplitude of P1.


CONCLUSIONS
We confirmed the changes due to maturity, reflected in a significant reduction of the latency of most components with increasing age. By between 4 and 6 years old the figures obtained were similar to those in adults. The results obtained give us the opportunity chance of publishing this standard data so that better use and interpretation of VEP to LED at an early age may be possible.
Recasén Linares
A
A
Departamento de Neurofisiología Clínica, Hospital interprovincial Clinico Quirurgico Saturnino Lora, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. dilu@medired.scu.sld.cu
Pérez Abalo
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MC
Guilarte Téllez
J
J
D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000254:growth & development; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000592:standards*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time
Normativa para la realización e interpretación de potenciales evocados visuales en edades pediátricas.