V. Pierrat et al., PROGNOSTIC VALUE OF EARLY SOMATOSENSORY-EVOKED POTENTIALS IN NEONATESWITH CYSTIC LEUKOMALACIA, Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 35(8), 1993, pp. 683-690
Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) were performed between 31 and 4
9 weeks postmenstrual age on 33 neonates with extensive cystic leukoma
lacia. 27 had periventricular leukomalacia (PVL), while six had deep w
hite matter lesions. All but two of the 27 infants with PVL had a repr
oducible potential at discharge, being delayed in 11 and within the no
rmal range in 14. No potentials could be obtained in any of the infant
s with cysts in the deep white matter. All surviving infants developed
severe neurological sequelae, irrespective of the N1 being delayed or
within normal range. These data suggest that in infants with an ultra
sound diagnosis of cystic leukomalacia, little additional information
with regard to neurodevelopmental outcome is provided by performing me
dian nerve SEPs, especially for those infants in whom the cystic lesio
ns are restricted to the occipital periventricular white matter.