Time-frequency patterns of somatosensory evoked potentials in predicting the location of spinal cord injury

Yazhou Wang; Hongyan Cui; Jiangbo Pu; K D K Luk; Yong Hu

doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2015.07.002

Time-frequency patterns of somatosensory evoked potentials in predicting the location of spinal cord injury

Neurosci Lett. 2015 Aug 31:603:37-41. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2015.07.002. Epub 2015 Jul 11.

Authors

Yazhou Wang¹, Hongyan Cui², Jiangbo Pu², K D K Luk¹, Yong Hu³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China.
² Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin, PR China.
³ Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China. Electronic address: yhud@hku.hk.

PMID: 26170248
DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2015.07.002

Abstract

Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) were found to exhibit different time-frequency patterns after acute spinal cord injury (SCI) at different levels, which implies that changes of these patterns may be associated with the location of SCI. Based on this finding, we propose the hypothesis that there are information regarding the location of SCI contained in the time-frequency patterns of SEPs. Purpose of the present study is to verify this hypothesis by comparing the time-frequency patterns of SEPs after acute and chronic SCI at the same level. The study examined the distribution patterns of the time-frequency components (TFCs) of SEPs before and after acute and chronic injury at C5 level in the spinal cord. Experimental results of SEP recordings from 24 adult rats show that there are common areas in the time-frequency distributions of SEPs. The TFCs from both the acute injury group and the chronic injury group are located in these areas with no TFCs from the normal group. Findings suggest that these areas are likely to possess information concerning the site of neurological deficits in spinal cord while independent of the modality of injury. This study provides basis for identification of stable time-frequency patterns of SEPs after different types and locations of SCI, which will guide the development of SEP-based SCI location detection.

Keywords: Injury location; Somatosensory evoked potentials; Spinal cord injury; Time-frequency analysis.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Acute Disease
Animals
Chronic Disease
Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory*
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Spinal Cord Injuries / diagnosis
Spinal Cord Injuries / physiopathology*
Time Factors