Posterior tibial somatosensory evoked potentials in very preterm infants.

Cortical posterior tibial somatosensory (SSEP) responses were reliably recorded from 67 infants of 33 weeks gestation or less who had normal neurological outcome at 24 months corrected age. Cross-sectional and longitudinal data did not show a change in waveform morphology with advancing gestation or postnatal age. The latency of the first cortical component shortened as maturation increased. This study provides normative data for the peak component waveforms of the response in very preterm infants. The role of the posterior tibial SSEP in the prediction of functional brain injury in this high risk population can now be determined.