Dectection of spinal cord lesion using skin electrode recordings of spinal evoked potential

The multi-channel recording of somatosensory spinal evoked potential (SSEP) was carried out on 30 patients with various neurological disorders. In some cases, SSEP changes corresponded well with the lesioned level. In general, the lesions of thoraco-cervical level were difficult to detect, because the appearance rate of SSEP peaks are reduced over the thoraco-cervical spine even in normal controls. In cases with spinal type of MS, SSEP revealed marked changes and subclinical sensory demyelinating lesions were detectable. Chronological SSEP recording in patients with acute transverse myelitis revealed functional improvements corresponding with clinical recovery. Surface and non-invasive SSEP recording is useful for detecting lesions in the spinal cord or peripheral nerves. It also offers valuable information about chronological modification of the lesions, and may reveal subclinical changes in certain neurological disorders.