[Brain function monitoring]

EEG and multimodal evoked potentials are currently the most frequently used methods of brain functioning monitoring in severely acute primary or secondary brain damage. Development or regression of brain function disturbances can be reliably assessed in this way. The methods are suitable for early diagnosis of intracranial complications and contribute to diagnosis of irreversible loss of cerebral function. They are also useful for early prognosis assessment. EEG and evoked potentials can be monitored at the bed-site. If there are no technical facilities for long-term EEG monitoring, repeated conventional single tracings are of value in these cases. When both the acoustic evoked brain stem potentials and the early somatosensory potentials are to be examined, the possibility exists to differentiate between hemispheric and brain stem damage and to use these results for prognosis assessment.