Visual evoked potentials to flash as an indicator of brain dysfunction following concussive head injuries in children.

Sixty-six randomly selected children with concussive head injuries of different degrees were subjected to visual evoked potential to flash examination (VECP). Evaluating only the differences in occipital potential between both hemispheres and/or both eyes, the VECP was pathological in 23 cases. Estimating the severity of the head injuries, according to the proposal of Lange-Cosack and Tepfer (grades I-VI), gave rise to a close correlation between the incidence of pathological VECP and increasing degree of trauma. VECP changes were usually transitory in nature with slight injuries (I and II) and constant in traumata of higher degrees (III-VI). As to the agreement of VECP and EEG findings, in two-thirds of the cases, the results of both methods coincided with respect to the indication of "pathological" or "nonpathological". In one-third the methods gave different results.