SOMATOSENSORY-EVOKED POTENTIALS AND COGNITIVE SEQUELAE IN CHILDREN WITH CLOSED HEAD-INJURY

In search of a prognostic indicator for residual cognitive function lo ss in children after closed head-injury, the somatosensory evoked pote ntial P300 has been studied in a prospective follow-up study of 17 pat ients with mild and moderately severe head-injuries. The P300 response was measured in the acute phase after patients regained consciousness . In addition the duration of coma and of post-traumatic amnesia were recorded. An age-matched control group of 20 healthy children supplied age-related normative evoked potential data. During a two-years follo w-up period the presence of residual disorders in various faculties wa s evaluated at fixed time intervals after discharge. Correlation analy ses revealed that, where the duration of coma and of post-traumatic am nesia qualify as general predictors of sequelae, the long-latency soma tosensory evoked potential P300 correlated specifically with long-term deficits in the field of school performance.