Subcortical and cortical somatosensory potentials evoked by posterior tibial nerve stimulation: normative values

Cortical somatosensory evoked potentials to posterior tibial nerve stimulation were obtained in 29 normal controls varying in age and body height. In obtaining these potentials we varied recording derivations and frequency settings. Our recordings demonstrated the following points: N20 (dorsal cord potential) and the early cortical components (P2, N2) were the only potentials that were consistently recorded. All other subcortical components (N18, N24, P27, N30) were of relatively low amplitude and not infrequently absent even in normals. All absolute latencies other than N2 were correlated with body height. However, interpeak latency differences were independent of body height. Below the age of 20, subcortical but not cortical peak latencies correlated with age, but this appeared to be due to changes in body height in this age group. Absolute amplitudes and amplitude ratios (left/right and uni/bilateral) showed marked interindividual variability and have very limited value in defining abnormality. The use of restricted filter windows facilitated the selective recording of postsynaptic potentials (30-250 Hz) and action potentials (150-1500 Hz).