Eero Smeds1, Sampsa Vanhatalo2, Harri Piitulainen3, Mathieu Bourguignon4, Veikko Jousmäki5, Riitta Hari6. 1. Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University, PO Box 12200, 00076 Aalto, Espoo, Finland. Electronic address: eero.smeds@helsinki.fi. 2. Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Children's Hospital, HUS Medical Imaging Center, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: sampsa.vanhatalo@helsinki.fi. 3. Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University, PO Box 12200, 00076 Aalto, Espoo, Finland. Electronic address: harri.piitulainen@aalto.fi. 4. Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University, PO Box 12200, 00076 Aalto, Espoo, Finland; BCBL, Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, 20009 San Sebastian, Spain. Electronic address: mabourgu@ulb.ac.be. 5. Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University, PO Box 12200, 00076 Aalto, Espoo, Finland; Aalto NeuroImaging, Aalto University, PO Box 12200, 00076 Aalto, Espoo, Finland; NatMEG, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden. Electronic address: veikko.jousmaki@aalto.fi. 6. Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University, PO Box 12200, 00076 Aalto, Espoo, Finland; Department of Art, Aalto University, PO Box 31000, 00076 Aalto, Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: riitta.hari@aalto.fi.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Somatosensory evoked potentials have high prognostic value in neonatal intensive care, but their recording from infants is challenging. Here, we studied the possibility to elicit cortical responses in newborns by simple passive hand movements. METHODS: We examined 13 newborns (postnatal age 1-46days) during clinically indicated 19-channel electroencephalography (EEG) recordings in the neonatal intensive care unit; EEG indications included birth asphyxia and suspected epileptic seizures. The experimenter moved the infant's wrist or fingers at 1 or 2Hz for 5-10min, separately on both sides. We measured movement kinematics with an accelerometer attached to the infant's hand and computed coherence between the EEG and acceleration signals (corticokinematic coherence, CKC). RESULTS: Statistically significant CKC (amplitude 0.020-0.511) with characteristic scalp topography was observed in all infants at twice the movement frequency. CKC was contralaterally dominant on the central scalp (median laterality index 0.48 for right-hand and -0.63 for left-hand movements). CONCLUSIONS: Passive movements elicit cortical responses that can be readily observed in clinical EEG recordings from newborns in the intensive-care environment. SIGNIFICANCE: CKC is a novel, noninvasive marker for the somatosensory system. Its robustness and practical ease make it attractive for bedside assessment of neurologically compromised newborns.
OBJECTIVE: Somatosensory evoked potentials have high prognostic value in neonatal intensive care, but their recording from infants is challenging. Here, we studied the possibility to elicit cortical responses in newborns by simple passive hand movements. METHODS: We examined 13 newborns (postnatal age 1-46days) during clinically indicated 19-channel electroencephalography (EEG) recordings in the neonatal intensive care unit; EEG indications included birth asphyxia and suspected epileptic seizures. The experimenter moved the infant's wrist or fingers at 1 or 2Hz for 5-10min, separately on both sides. We measured movement kinematics with an accelerometer attached to the infant's hand and computed coherence between the EEG and acceleration signals (corticokinematic coherence, CKC). RESULTS: Statistically significant CKC (amplitude 0.020-0.511) with characteristic scalp topography was observed in all infants at twice the movement frequency. CKC was contralaterally dominant on the central scalp (median laterality index 0.48 for right-hand and -0.63 for left-hand movements). CONCLUSIONS: Passive movements elicit cortical responses that can be readily observed in clinical EEG recordings from newborns in the intensive-care environment. SIGNIFICANCE: CKC is a novel, noninvasive marker for the somatosensory system. Its robustness and practical ease make it attractive for bedside assessment of neurologically compromised newborns.
Authors: Harri Piitulainen; Santtu Seipäjärvi; Janne Avela; Tiina Parviainen; Simon Walker Journal: Front Aging Neurosci Date: 2018-06-14 Impact factor: 5.750