Pyramidal tract lesions in comatose patients.

In 197 comatose patients transcranial magnetic evoked potentials were registered to investigate the integrity of the pyramidal tract. Findings were compared to somatosensory, visual and auditory evoked potentials. Preservation, abnormalities and absence of evoked potentials were related to survival and non-survival. Transcranial magnetic and somatosensory evoked potentials proved to be of high prognostic value. While the accuracy of prediction of a fatal outcome based on transcranial magnetic evoked potentials was close to 90%, the prediction of survival was less dependable. Transcranial magnetic evoked potentials are concluded to be a valuable adjunct to the neurophysiological assessment of the comatose patient.