[Utilization of evoked potentials in intensive care units].

Evoked Potentials (EP) are a neurophysiological tool that makes it possible for us to make an extensive study of the cerebral cortex, the brainstem and the spinal cord. Different techniques can be applied while performing the EPs, such as Visual Evoked Potentials (VEPs), Somatosensory Evoked Potentials (SSEPs), Long Latency Somatosensory Evoked Potentials (LLSEPs), Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potentials (BAEPs), Middle Latency Auditory Evoked Potentials (MLAEPs), Long Latency Auditory Evoked Potentials (LLAEP) and Mismatch Negativity (MMN). The combination of the different techniques of Evoked Potentials (EP) allows us to make a neurofunctional evaluation of comatose patients in the Intensive Care Units (ICU). It is also a useful tool in the diagnosis of the origin of coma, to confirm brain death, and as an evolutive prognosis value of the different central nervous system diseases (SNC). There are also studies that propose using EPs as a monitoring tool of the SNC. We present an up-dated review on the principal aspects of EP neuromonitoring in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients.