Somatosensory evoked potentials in lacunar syndromes

Parietal and prerolandic somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) to median nerve stimulation were recorded from 40 patients with lacunar syndromes due to CT-verified lacunar infarcts. The control group consisted of 30 age-matched normal controls. Nineteen patients showed SEP abnormalities, mainly an increase of height-covariated latency of cortical components and/or of the central conduction time. Such changes occurred independently of the clinical features of lacunar syndromes, being related more to the lesion location than to its size. SEP studies may be a useful adjunct to the clinical diagnosis of lacunar infarct, possibly also when the CT scans are normal.