Prognostic value of somatosensory evoked potentials in stroke

Median and tibial somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) were performed on 12 patients at three and twelve weeks after a first acute stroke, the relationship with motor and functional outcome as measured by British Medical Scale and Barthel Index was searched. Results indicated that the amplitude abnormalities of cortical potentials performed about three weeks after stroke are a good indicator of a poor motor and functional impairment after three months. Moreover changes in amplitude appeared more frequent and permanent than the latency abnormalities.