Sensory nerve stimulation and evoked cerebral potentials.

Cerebral potentials were evoked by stimulating sensory fibers of the median, ulnar, radial, musculocutaneous, sural, superficial peroneal, and saphenous nerves. The sensory nerve action potential was simultaneously recorded from these nerves, allowing comparison of peripheral and central sensory conduction times. Somatosensory potentials (SEPs) elicited by sensory nerve stimulation are of particular value in evaluating proximal segments of peripheral as well as central somatosensory pathways.