Oral Presentation - 2
The Significance of Tibial Somatosensory Evoked Potentials in Predicting the Urodynamic Abnormality in Patients with Spina Bifida
Ezgi Tuna Erdoğan 1, Şeyhmus Kerem Özel 2, Zeliha Matur 3, Hüseyin Canaz 4, İbrahim Alataş 4
1 İstanbul İstinye University Department of Physiology
2 İstanbul Bilim University Spina Bifida Research Center Department of Pediatric Urology
3 İstanbul Bilim University Faculty of Medicine Department of Neurology
4 İstanbul Bilim University Spina Bifida Research Center Department of Pediatric Neurosurgery
IntroductionTibial somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) are used to identify the neurological status and secondary tethered cord in patients with spina bifida (SB). Its significance in predicting the bladder status is largely unknown. The aim of this study was to find out the relation of SEP with urodynamics in predicting the type of bladder dysfuntion in SB.Patients and MethodsThe medical records of SB patients for whom SEP was done for differential diagnosis of tethered cord were evaluated. Only those patients with associating urodynamic studies were included. SEP results were scored from 1 to 6 in terms of lomber and cortical responses as 1, denoting a favorable score and 6 as an unfavorable score. Age, gender, detrusor and sphincter activities were noted. The results were compared using chi-square test.ResultsThere were 55 SB patients for whom SEP study was done to differentiate tethered cord. 15 patients were excluded who had artefacts in SEP study. There were only 25 patients who had an associating urodynamic study. The patients had a mean age of 6,63,2 years. There were 12 boys and 13 girls. When the SEP scores were evaluated, there were more unfavorable SEP scores when detrusor sphincter dyssynergia was observed in urodynamic study (p=0,009).Conclusions SEP shows the transmission of electric signals in neural pathways and any sign impaired latency may imply neural injury. This information is valuable in determination of the neurological status in spina bifida. Detrusor sphincter dyssynergia may be a sign of severe spinal cord injury in these patients. SEP may give a clue about bladder status in neurogenic bladder dysfunction. Studies with larger cohort is necessary to make a strong recommendation.