Somatosensory evoked potentials in the evaluation of patients with stocking/glove paresthesias

We studied 10 patients referred for suspicion of peripheral neuropathy. They all complained of paresthesias with a stocking distribution. As EMG, motor and sensory nerve conduction studies failed to confirm the clinical diagnosis, we studied somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) following median and tibial nerve stimulation. The SEP findings were compared with controls and 10 spastic paraplegias. The evoked potential study revealed prolonged latencies of cortical potentials after tibial nerve stimulation in all the patients with paresthesias and were considered evidence of myelopathy.