[Clinicophysiological study of multimodality evoked potentials and computed tomographic findings in persistent vegetative state].

The auditory brainstem response (ABR), short latency somatosensory evoked potential (SSEP) and visual evoked potential (VEP) of patients in the persistent vegetative state (PVS) are reported, and the correlations between the electrophysiological findings and the CT scan findings with the three clinical grades of the PVS (transitional, incomplete and complete vegetative syndromes) are discussed. Twenty two patients in a vegetative state caused by subarachnoid hemorrhage (3), hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage (5), cerebral infarction (6), head injury (3), cerebral anoxia (4) and brain tumor (1). Each evoked response was evaluated for the presence or absence of abnormalities and assigned a grade ranked I to III. Briefly an evoked response was assigned a grade I, II, III if it satisfied the respective criteria of normal, moderately abnormal and severely abnormal or absent electrical activity. On the other hand CT scan findings in the PVS were evaluated for abnormal low density areas, ventricular dilatation and enlargement of the sulci and cisterns indicative of atrophy of the brain parenchyma. SSEP and VEP were better correlated with the clinical grade than ABR, and upper brainstem atrophy and abnormal low density area in CT scan findings were more valuable as an index to expresses the clinical features than ventricular dilatation. On the basis of these results, it is concluded that studies of ABR, SSEP and VEP associated with CT scan findings in the PVS could be a useful diagnostic aid to evaluate the lesions of these patients.