A Brief Overview of the Use of Evoked Potentials in Pediatrics

ABSTRACT.

Evoked potential (EP) testing of all modalities has specific uses and particular challenges in the pediatric population. Methods and techniques for encouraging cooperation for the test vary with the modality. For example, auditory and somatosensory evoked potentials are recorded best from sleeping children; visual evoked potentials are more accurate when recorded from awake children. A major use of the brainstem evoked potentials (BAEPs) is the evaluation of hearing in children at risk for hearing difficulties whether that risk is congenital or postnatal. BAEPs help in the diagnosis and follow-up of children with inherited demyelinating conditions. Visual evoked potentials (VEPs) can be used to evaluate conditions that affect the optic nerve, i.e., compression, tumor, or demyelination. VEPs are less reliable in determining cortical blindness. Normative data for both age and size are especially important in somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) to take into account both the length of the pathway and the changes in transmission time with maturation and myelination. SEPs serve as a very good prognostic tool in children in coma, especially coma following head injury. They are also widely used to monitor surgical procedures on the spine.

KEY WORDS.:

• Brainstem auditory evoked potentials
• children
• somatosensory evoked potentials
• visual evoked potentials