Somatosensory evoked potentials and intracranial pressure during chronic dilatation of an artificial extraparenchymal space-occupying lesion in cats.

Abstract

Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) and intracranial pressure (ICP) were studied in cats, suffering from a chronic space-occupying lesion produced by enlargement of an epidural balloon over the left sensomotory cortex. Our study shows that latency alterations of SEP are not dependent on the degree of ICP. Additionally, the results obtained demonstrate that chronic space-occupying lesions cause continuous prolongation of SEP latencies, probably produced by atrophy of the compressed tissue. Regarding the clinical importance of SEP measurements, we concluded that they are not suitable for estimating the degree of ICP. However, they are useful to evaluate tissue damage caused by mass effects in the acute and chronic phase of various space-occupying processes.