Blink reflex in children with neurological disorders: analysis of ipsilateral early component R1 and late component R2.

The blink reflex was studied in 101 children with neurological disorders, especially with regard to alterations in the ipsilateral early component R1 and the late component R2. As a whole any kind of abnormality in the latency and/or amplitude of R1 or R2 was detectable in patients of cerebral, brainstem and peripheral lesions. There were neither specific findings with respect to localization of the lesions nor differences among each age group except for in patients of brainstem disorders. In the patients with increased intracranial pressure, the blink reflex sensitively reflected the high intracranial pressure. In motor impairment cases, even severely affected, the blink reflex was within normal range in late infancy. The blink reflex is influenced by the brain maturation, the underlying etiology and pathophysiology. R2 is more closely correlated with the clinical findings than R1.