diagnosis of peripheral neuropathy by somatosensory evoked potential.
A patient of mine has asserted that she has suffered a permanent
debilitating injury following surgery for femoral hernia. she has no
physical or laboratory signs of injury. EMG studies are all normal.
she also has a medical history of multiple pseudoneurologic physical
complaints unexplained by repeated exams over a two year period. can
SSEP demonstrate a peripheral neuropathy?

Dear nyhutch,

Somatosensory evoked potentials are used to assess peripheral
neuropathy, but only rarely because nerve conduction studies are the
test of choice according to article by Jorge G. Burneo and Gregrory L.
Barkley. See  http://www.emedicine.com/neuro/topic344.htm,
It indicates that the use of SSEPs has been reported for at least the
following peripheral nerve disorders: Hereditary neuropathies;
Diabetic neuropathy; Inflammatory polyradiculopathies; Infectious
causes (eg, HIV); and  Toxic neuropathies.

The following sources may also provide useful information relevant to
your question.

Chiappa KH. Ropper AH. Evoked potentials in clinical medicine (first
of two parts). New England Journal of Medicine. 306(19):1140-50, 1982
May 13

Chiappa KH. Ropper AH. Evoked potentials in clinical medicine (second
of two parts).  New England Journal of Medicine. 306(20):1205-11, 1982
May 20.

Chiappa KH, Editor:  Evoked potentials in clinical medicine, 3rd ed.
Philadelphia, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Publishers, 1997.

Gilmore RL. Sensory evoked potentials in clinical practice. Seminars
in Neurology. 10(2):185-95, 1990 Jun.

Eisen A. The use of somatosensory evoked potentials for the evaluation
of the peripheral nervous system. Neurologic Clinics. 6(4):825-38,
1988 Nov.

Aminoff MJ. Use of somatosensory evoked potentials to evaluate the
peripheral nervous system. Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology.
4(2):135-44, 1987 Apr.


I trust this is the information you need and hope that it helps you
solve the current clinical problem.

Best regards,

vitalmed-ga