Evoked Potentials in Clinical Medicine

Short-Latency Somatosensory Evoked PotentialsShort-latency somatosensory evoked potentials (EPs) are recorded after stimulation of peripheral sensory nerves. They are functionally similar to brain-stem auditory EPs in that there is a close relation between wave forms and the anatomy of sensory tracts, allowing precise localization of conduction defects. Since the paths involved in short-latency somatosensory EPs traverse a greater extent of the central nervous system than do those of brain-stem auditory EPs, they are of greater clinical utility. Cell bodies of the large-fiber sensory system lie in the dorsal-root ganglia; their central processes travel rostrally in ipsilateral posterior columns of the . . .