Prognostic value of early somatosensory evoked potentials in neonates with cystic leukomalacia.

Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) were performed between 31 and 49 weeks postmenstrual age on 33 neonates with extensive cystic leukomalacia. 27 had periventricular leukomalacia (PVL), while six had deep white matter lesions. All but two of the 27 infants with PVL had a reproducible potential at discharge, being delayed in 11 and within the normal range in 14. No potentials could be obtained in any of the infants with cysts in the deep white matter. All surviving infants developed severe neurological sequelae, irrespective of the N1 being delayed or within normal range. These data suggest that in infants with an ultrasound diagnosis of cystic leukomalacia, little additional information with regard to neurodevelopmental outcome is provided by performing median nerve SEPs, especially for those infants in whom the cystic lesions are restricted to the occipital periventricular white matter.