OBJECTIVE: To study the characteristics of Somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) cortical components in children with evoked spikes (ES) on EEG. METHOD: The children were aged 7-12 years, had normal neurological examination and neuropsychomotor development, and did not present signs/symptoms of CNS lesions. Data were compared within a group of 20 "normal" children. RESULTS: The amplitude of the cortical components N75 and P98, obtained by posterior tibial nerve stimulation, was higher in ES groups as compared with the normal group. CONCLUSION: High amplitude SEP (N75 and P98) has higher values in the group of children with ES than in the normal group. The exact mechanism involved in the genesis of ES and high amplitude SEP is not clear yet. A possible mechanism would be focal cortical hyperexcitability related to functional activity. No difference was observed in SEP components in children with ES considering occurrence or not of epilepsy. Therefore, SEP does not bring elements to distinguish between the groups suffering or not epilepsy.
somatosensory evoked potential; electroencephalogram; evoked spike
