Conventional and maximum length sequences middle latency response in patients with central nervous system lesions.

Conventional and maximum length sequence (MLS) middle latency response (MLR) procedures were compared across several parameters for control patients and patients with central nervous system lesions. There were similar findings for both populations and both types of MLR for the absolute latencies of Na and Pa waves. Middle latency waves were absent more often in the neurologic than control subjects for both the conventional and MLS-MLR procedures. Overall, more MLR waves were present for the MLS technique than for the conventional MLR technique. Differences in wave amplitude were significant for several recording sites when comparing neurologic with control groups, but findings were similar for wave amplitude when comparing the two types of MLR procedures for the neurologic population. Based on these findings, no clear diagnostic advantage was shown for using the MLS-MLR technique. These findings are further discussed.