Functional recovery despite prolonged bilateral loss of somatosensory evoked potentials: report on two patients.

A bilateral loss of short latency somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs) after head trauma or non-traumatic brain damage is normally associated with a deleterious neurological outcome. An adequate recovery in reported in two deeply comatose patients with head trauma or severe hypertensive encephalopathy despite prolonged bilateral loss of SSEPs over days, found in repeated recordings. Hence, a bilateral loss of SSEPs should not be considered alone for prediction of outcome in cerebral injury.