Somatosensory evoked potentials in children with bilateral spastic cerebral palsy
Eleni P Teflioudi1, Dimitrios I Zafeiriou, Euthymia Vargiami
11st Department of Pediatrics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Insights
Somatosensory evoked potentials reveal sensory impairments in children with cerebral palsy. Abnormalities correlate with electroencephalogram, visual evoked potentials, and perinatal infections.
Area of Science:
- Neurology
- Neurophysiology
- Developmental Pediatrics
Background:
- Bilateral spastic cerebral palsy (CP) affects motor function, but sensory pathway involvement is less understood.
- Evoked potentials are valuable tools for assessing sensory pathway integrity in pediatric neurological disorders.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate alterations in somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) in children with bilateral spastic CP.
- To correlate SEP findings with clinical and laboratory parameters, including electroencephalogram (EEG) and visual evoked potentials (VEPs).
Main Methods:
- Fifty-one children (24-168 months) with bilateral spastic CP underwent SEP testing for median and tibial nerves.
- Data were correlated with EEG, VEPs, and history of perinatal/neonatal infections.
Main Results:
- Abnormalities were frequent in cortical SEPs: 67.6% for median nerve and 74.5% for tibial nerve.
- Abnormal tibial nerve SEPs correlated with abnormal EEG (P=0.014).
- Abnormal median nerve SEPs correlated with abnormal VEPs (P=0.02) and perinatal/neonatal infection history (P=0.016).
Conclusions:
- Sensory impairments are common in bilateral spastic CP, as indicated by abnormal SEPs.
- SEP abnormalities are linked to EEG and VEP alterations.
- Perinatal/neonatal infections negatively impact sensory pathway function in CP, particularly in quadriplegic patients.
Abstract:
Alterations were monitored of somatosensory evoked potentials in children with bilateral spastic cerebral palsy and these findings correlated with relevant clinical and laboratory parameters. Fifty-one children with bilateral spastic cerebral palsy (31 boys, 20 girls; age range 24-168 months) participated in the study. Abnormal somatosensory evoked potentials latencies were recorded in 23 of 34 (67.6%) cortical recordings of the median nerve and in 38 of 51 (74.5%) cortical recordings of the tibial nerve. Abnormal tibial nerve somatosensory evoked potentials were strongly correlated with abnormal electroencephalogram (P=0.014), while impaired median nerve recordings were correlated with abnormal visual evoked potentials (P = 0.02) and a history of perinatal or neonatal infection (P=0.016). Furthermore, perinatal/neonatal infection adversely effected the recordings in both tibial and medial nerves in quadriplegic patients (P=0.023). Sensory impairment is strongly related with abnormal visual evoked potentials, abnormal electroencephalogram, and a history of perinatal or neonatal infection.
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