Central somatosensory conduction time in diagnosis of multiple sclerosis

Cervical and cortical somatosensory evoked potentials were recorded in 42 patients with suspected and certain multiple sclerosis. Absolute peak latencies as well as latency differences between the cervical components N9, N11 and N13 and between N13 and cortical N20 were measured. In addition, the right/left differences of these values were analyzed. It ws demonstrated that the central conduction times (inter-peak differences) were more sensitive diagnostic indicators than the absolute peak latencies of the same components. Thus we conclude that conduction time measurement has a complementary role in investigating functional disturbances in multiple sclerosis.