Subcomponents of the cervical evoked response in patients with intracerebral circulatory arrest

The subcomponents of the cervical evoked response, N11, N13, N14, and the following positivity, were studied in 13 patients with full arrest of the intracerebral circulation, isoelectric EEGs and abolished cortical somatosensory evoked responses. The peak negativity (N13) and the following positive wave were present in all patients. Also N11 and N14 could be identified in most patients either at standard stimulation frequency (2 Hz) or by increasing the stimulation rate. The results point to a spinal origin of these sub-components in the human cervical evoked response.