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Pain‐related somatosensory evoked potentials can quantitatively evaluate hypalgesia in Wallenberg's syndrome
Author(s) -
Kanda M.,
Mima T.,
Xu X.,
Fujiwara N.,
Shindo K.,
Nagamine T.,
Ikeda A.,
Shibasaki H.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
acta neurologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.967
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1600-0404
pISSN - 0001-6314
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0404.1996.tb07043.x
Subject(s) - spinothalamic tract , stimulation , somatosensory evoked potential , somatosensory system , electrophysiology , medicine , latency (audio) , anesthesia , psychology , audiology , neuroscience , nociception , receptor , engineering , electrical engineering
In 6 patients with Wallenberg's syndrome who showed a dissociated loss of pain sense, we recorded pain‐related somatosensory evoked potentials following CO 2 laser stimulation of the hand dorsum (pain SEPs). Two components, N2 and P2, were recorded by stimulation of the unaffected hand, whereas on the affected side they were absent or decreased in proportion to the severity of hypalgesia which was evaluated by both needle test and CO 2 laser stimulation. Latency of either component, if appeared, was longer in the affected hand stimulation than that in the unaffected one. In contrast, N20 of the conventional electrically‐stimulated SEPs (electric SEPs) showed no difference between the two sides. It is concluded that, unlike other electrophysiological methods, pain SEPs following CO 2 laser stimulation can quantitatively evaluate functional impairment of the spinothalamic tract in Wallenberg's syndrome.