Prediction of ‘awakening’ and outcome in prolonged acute coma from severe traumatic brain injury: evidence for validity of short latency SEPs

Cognitive Event-Related Potentials in Comatose and Post-Comatose States

“…At the same time, all patients with favorable outcome have developed normal SEPs (Sp-near 100%). In contrast, normal SEPs are associated to a great number of false positives (for reviews see [13,[17][18][19]) suggesting that SEPs are not a good predictor of recovery.…”

Somatosensory evoked potentials in children with severe head trauma

“…Imaging with CT or MRI provides data about the anatomical changes but cannot reliably predict outcome [14]. The clinical examination of mechanically ventilated patients is of limited relevance due to the influence of drugs on brain and muscle function; however, a tool that can predict brain-dependent outcome would facilitate clinical decision-making and would provide valuable information for the family and medical staff [2]. Similar to previous studies, our results show that bilaterally absent SEPs can reliably predict an unfavourable outcome, while a normal SEP may not exclude a fatal outcome [3,4,7].…”

Electroencephalography (EEG) and Unconsciousness

“…Many studies have confirmed that the absence of cortical somatosensory-evoked potentials (SSEPs) such as N20 is good evidence to predict recovery from coma (Amantini et al , 2005, Carter and Butt, 2005, Robinson et al , 2003, Young, Wang, 2004. Lew et al studied 22 patients who suffered severe TBI and observed that bilateral absence of median nerve SEP was strongly predictive of the worst functional outcome (Lew, Dikmen, 2003).…”