[Possibilities of trigeminal somatosensory evoked potentials in diagnosing neuralgiform facial pain].

The aim of this study was to analyse the possibilities of trigeminal somatosensory evoked potentials (TSEP) as an objective diagnostic tool for the classification of pain sensations of the 5th cranial nerve. 43 patients suffering from trigeminal neuralgia, atypical facial pain and cancer pain were investigated. Pain sensations of patients correlated with changes in the somatosensory evoked response by presenting an increase in latency periods. Specific pathological peaks could not be found, and thus it must be concluded that TSEP changes should be interpreted only in the light of the clinical symptoms.