Analysis of Brain Evoked Potential Study in Cerebral Palsy Patients

Rhou, Hye Mi; Lee, Keon Su; An, Ren Zhe

Abstract

PURPOSE: Cerebral palsy is a group of conditions characterized by nonprogressive motor and posture dysfunction developing during perinatal period due to brain damage. Combined sensory and cognitive disorders can evolve the secondary mental retardation or speech disorder. Brain evoked potential can evaluate the visual, auditory, somatosensory neuropathway, and the response of frontal, temporal, occipital lobe. We studied the usefulness of brain pvoked votential as a tool in the early diagnosis and treatment of sensory disorders in cerebral palsy.
METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed the records of 86 cerebral palsy patients who were practiced brain evoked potential study in Chungnam National University Hospital from July, 1995 to June, 1999. We analyzed the visual, auditory, somatosensory evoked potential result and the correlations between the electroencephalography, radiologic brain imaging study and the brain evoked potential.
RESULTS
1) Clinical types of cerebral palsy were spastic type(85.0%), athetoid type(3.5%), mixed type(3.5%) and the remaining cases did not manifest any one the types above. 2) Abnormal evoked potential fingings were 25 cases(29.4%) in visual evoked potential, 16 cases(18.8%) in auditory evoked potential, 28 cases(37.8%) in median nerve evoked potential, 39 cases(52.7%) in tibial nerve evoked potential. 3) Electroencephalography, radiologic brain imaging study manifested no statistically significant correlations with the brain evoked potential result(P>0.05).
CONCLUSION
As a noninnvasive neurophysiologic study, Brain evoked potential is a useful method predicting neurologic developmental progress and helpful to early diagnosis of sensory disorder in cerebral palsy patients.