• Ruchi Kothari, Ramji Singh, Smita Singh, Manish Jain, Pradeep Bokariya, and Maria Khatoon.
• Department of Physiology, Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Sevagram, Wardha, India.
• J Pediatr Neurosci. 2010 Jan 1;5(1):12-7.

ContextCerebral palsy (CP) is a heterogeneous group of permanent, non-progressive motor disorders of movement and posture caused by chronic brain injuries. It is the most common cause of physical disability in childhood; spastic cerebral palsy being the most prevalent of its various forms. There is scanty information about the neurophysiologic investigations in children diagnosed as having spastic CP.AimsThe aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between abnormal VEP and BAEP findings with different clinical parameters in children with spastic cerebral palsy.Materials And MethodsFifteen children with spastic CP in the age range 4 months to 10 years participated in this study. Evaluation of VEPs, brainstem evoked potentials (BAEPs) were performed in all study patients as well as 35 healthy children as controls. The study was conducted after obtaining ethics committee approval and informed consent of parents.Statistical Analysis UsedSignificance of difference in the mean values of different parameters in different groups was assessed by Student's "t" test and the P value <0.05 was considered to be significant. All the values were expressed as mean ± 1 Std. Deviation.ResultsA significant difference was found in the VEP latencies and amplitude between the subjects with CP and controls. Striking BAEP abnormalities in CP patients include prolongation of absolute latency of wave V, interpeak latencies of III-V and lowered I-V ratio. Abnormal VEPs and BAEPs in children with bilateral spastic cerebral palsy demonstrated a correlation with the presence of moderate to severe developmental delay.ConclusionsThe differences in VEPs and BAEPs were determined between CP children and healthy children. The abnormalities found are probably linked to the neurological deficits present in cases of cerebral palsy.

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