Evoked trigeminal nerve potential in chronic trichloroethylene intoxication.

Results of a study of trigeminal nerve impairment resulting from trichloroethylene intoxication by the somatosensory-evoked potential method reveal three kinds of abnormalities: increased stimulation voltage, excessive latency delay with morphological abnormalities, and excessive graph amplitude. These abnormalities confirm clinical disturbance (hypesthesia of the trigeminal nerve area) and open debate about the real mechanism of trichloroethylene neurotoxicity. Industrial intoxication by solvents, particularly trichloroethylene, is common. We have conducted a study of 188 workers chronically exposed to trichloroethylene and have confirmed the selective neurological disturbances of this intoxication in the trigeminal nerve (20%) [3, 10]. We utilized a new experimental method, developed for studies of chronic intoxications effecting the median nerve [5, 8], of recording the somatosensory evoked potential following stimulation of the trigeminal nerve [4, 6, 7]. The workers in this study were selected following clinical evaluation of their facial sensitivity and trigeminal nerve reflexes. In this paper we present our preliminary results on 11 workers, 9 suffering effects of intoxication and 2 controls.