Effect of epidural bupivacaine on somatosensory evoked potentials after dermatomal stimulation

The effect of lumbar epidural analgesia with plain bupivacaine, 0.5%, on early (less than 0.5 sec) somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) to electrical stimulation of the T-10, L-1, and S-1 dermatomes and the posterior tibial nerve was examined in eight patients. A decrease of the cortical amplitude and an increase in latency were seen, most pronounced at the L-1 level, but with only minor effect on the S-1 dermatome. No correlation was found between segmental level of analgesia and decrease in amplitude of the evoked potentials. Thus despite clinically adequate surgical anesthesia, the neural pathways as assessed by SEP were incompletely blocked except at the L1 dermatome near the epidural injection site.