[Somatosensory evoked potentials in moderate hyperthermia].

The effects of moderate whole-body hyperthermia on the cervical and cortical somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) were studied in healthy male subjects, aged 22-32 years. They were immersed in hot water and heated to a median rectal temperature of 39.0 degrees C. Serial SEPs to median nerve stimulation were recorded during cooling at intervals of 0.1 degrees C. The general wave form and the amplitudes did not systematically change. For a 1 degrees C drop there was a median latency increase of 2.6-3.7% in cervical and 1.5-7.4% in cortical SEP components. In individual cases significant latency delays of cervical N13 and cortical N20 could already be observed at differences of 0.2 degrees and 0.5 degrees respectively. All other components showed significant latency changes at temperature intervals of 0.6 to 0.8 degrees C.