The effects of low spinal injury on somatosensory evoked potentials from forelimb stimulation.

Spinal cord transection below C6 in anesthetized cats results in an alteration in the configuration of the SEP following direct or percutaneous stimulation of the median or radial nerves. The most significant alterations were in components occurring at latencies from 40 to 60 msec. The results of these experiments support the general conclusion that the spinal cord and supraspinal structures act as a functional unit and that the SEP is not solely determined by input over segmental pathways In addition, the alteration in the SEP produced by median nerve stimulation following spinal cord injury below C6 may serve clinically as a monitor of events at the site of injury in cases where an SEP from lower limb stimulation is no longer obtainable.