Brainstem involvement in infantile spasms: a study employing brainstem evoked potentials and magnetic resonance imaging.

Ten patients with infantile spasms underwent brainstem evoked potentials and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination to evaluate brainstem involvement. Short latency somatosensory evoked potentials and auditory brainstem responses were abnormal in seven and five of the 10 patients, respectively. MRI findings were abnormal in nine of the 10 patients. Six patients demonstrated various degrees of atrophy of the brainstem. In all of these cases brainstem evoked potentials were abnormal. This study demonstrates that infantile spasms are frequently associated with brainstem dysfunction and raises the hypothesis that brain atrophy involving the brainstem might be a cause of infantile spasms. In addition, this study also documents the combination of brainstem evoked potentials and MRI examination is valuable tool in the evaluation of brainstem involvement in infantile spasms.