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Evoked potentials in motor system diseases

From the Clinical Neurophysiology Unit, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital (Drs. Cascino, King, Brown, and Chiappa), Boston, MA; and the Royal North Shore Hospital (Dr. Ring), Sydney, Australia.

We studied pattern-shift visual (PSVEP), brainstem auditory (BAEP), and somatosensory (SEP) evoked potentials in 38 unselected patients with motor system diseases (MSD) (28 sporadic, 10 familial). PSVEPs were normal in all patients, and BAEPs were normal in all except one with clinical hearing loss who had absent waves I and III and prolonged wave V latencies. Median and tibial SEPs revealed definite CNS conduction abnormalities in only 1 of 30 and 1 of 18 patients, respectively. In addition, four patients had peripheral and four had peripheral or central delays on tibial nerve testing. There were no or only small group differences in central conduction SEP, BAEP, and PSVEP values in patients with normal studies compared with controls. This study suggests that central conduction SEP, BAEP, or PSVEP abnormalities can rarely be attributed to MSD and that their presence in patients suspected of having this disorder should prompt a search for an alternative diagnosis.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Chiappa, Clinical Neurophysiology Unit, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114.

Dr. R. H. Brown was supported by NIH grant NS00787-04, the ALS association, and the Pierre L. de Bourgknecht ALS Research Foundation.

Received January 30, 1987. Accepted for publication in final form April 20, 1987.

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