Somatosensory evoked potentials in clinical practice: a review

Abstract

The authors present a review of the current use of somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs) in neurological practice as a non-invasive neurophysiological technique. For this purpose we have reviewed articles published in English or Portuguese in the PubMed and LILACS databases. In this review, we address the role of SSEPs in neurological diseases that affect the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system, especially in demyelinating diseases, for monitoring coma, trauma and the functioning of sensory pathways during surgical procedures. The latter, along with new areas of research, has become one of the most important applications of SSEPs.

Resumo

Os autores apresentam uma revisão do uso atual do potencial evocado somatossensitivo (PESS) na prática neurológica como uma técnica neurofisiológica não invasiva. Revisamos artigos publicados em Inglês ou Português nas bases de dados PubMed e LILACS. Nesta revisão abordamos o papel do PESS nas doenças neurológicas que atingem o sistema nervoso central e o sistema nervoso periférico, especialmente, nas doenças desmielinizantes, no monitoramento do coma, do trauma e da função das vias sensitivas durante os procedimentos cirúrgicos, que se tornou uma de suas aplicações mais importantes, assim como novas áreas de pesquisa.

Keywords:

Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory - Neurology - Multiple Sclerosis - Coma - Intraoperative Neurophysiological Monitoring

Palavras-chave:

Potenciais Somatossensoriais Evocados - Neurologia - Esclerose Múltipla - Coma - Monitorização Neurofisiológica Intraoperatória

Authors’ contributions:

OJHF: conceptualization, data curation, investigation, methodology, formal analysis, project administration, roles/writing original draft; CSKK: conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, validation, visualization, project administration, roles/writing; PJL, RDD: conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, roles/writing; LCW: conceptualization, validation, visualization, supervision, writing review & edit; rhs: conceptualization, validation, visualization, formal analysis, project administration, supervision, writing review & edit.

Publication History

Received: 04 September 2020

Accepted: 28 December 2020

Article published online:
01 June 2023

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