Short-latency somatosensory evoked potentials to median nerve stimulation in patients with diffuse neurologic disease.

Short-latency somatosensory evoked potentials were found to be abnormal in 15 of 28 patients with diffuse neurologic disease of varying etiology and severity. These abnormalities often did not directly correlate with the presence or degree of clinical sensory impairment. They were similar to findings in patients with demyelinating and focal lesions of the nervous system. This suggests that the interpretation of these potentials can be done only in the context of the patient's clinical assessment.