SOMATOSENSORY-EVOKED POTENTIALS FOLLOWING POSTERIOR TIBIAL NERVE-STIMULATION PREDICT LATER MOTOR OUTCOME

Posterior tibial nerve somatosensory evoked potentials (PTN-SEPs) were performed on 50 neonates at high risk of future neurodevelopmental im pairment just before their discharge from the neonatal intensive-care unit. The close association of sensory pathways with motor tracts and the need for sensory input and integration for normal motor functionin g would indicate that CNS lesions producing motor deficits may be dete cted by this method. Follow-up of these infants revealed a highly sign ificant relationship between bilaterally abnormal PTN-SEPs and the pre sence of cerebral palsy at three years of age. Normal PTN-SEPs were as sociated with a normal outcome in 24 of 25 infants. In this group of n eonates, PTN-SEPs were more predictive than cranial ultrasound.