title: Visual and brainstem auditory evoked potentials in infants with severe vitamin B12 deficiency.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Vitamin B12 plays an important role in the development of mental, motor, cognitive, and social functions via its role in DNA synthesis and nerve myelination. Its deficiency in infants might cause neuromotor retardation as well as megaloblastic anemia. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of infantile vitamin B12 deficiency on evoked brain potentials and determine whether improvement could be obtained with vitamin B12 replacement at appropriate dosages.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty patients with vitamin B12 deficiency and 30 age-matched healthy controls were included in the study. Hematological parameters, visual evoked potentials, and brainstem auditory evoked potentials tests were performed prior to treatment, 1 week after treatment, and 3 months after treatment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Visual evoked potentials (VEPs) and brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) were found to be prolonged in 16 (53.3%) and 15 (50%) patients, respectively. Statistically significant improvements in VEP and BAEP examinations were determined 3 months after treatment. Three months after treatment, VEP and BAEP examinations returned to normal in 81.3% and 53.3% of subjects with prolonged VEPs and BAEPs, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results demonstrate that vitamin B12 deficiency in infants causes significant impairment in the auditory and visual functioning tests of the brain, such as VEP and BAEP.
authors.forename: Nihat
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Demir
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koç
authors.forename: Mahmut
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abuhandan
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Calik
authors.forename: Akin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Işcan
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology*; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014806:Vitamin B 12 Deficiency / Q000503:physiopathology*