Author(s)

Mustafa Harun Sahin^1,2, Gonul Vural^1,3*, Serdar Barakli^1,4, Sadiye Gumusyayla^1,3

¹Department of Neurology, Ankara City Hospital, Ankara, Türkiye.
²Department of Neurology, Sinop Ataturk State Hospital, Sinop, Türkiye.
³Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara Yildirim Beyazit University, Ankara, Türkiye.
⁴Department of Neurology, Sungurlu State Hospital, Corum, Türkiye.

Abnormal SEP reflects dysfunction of the medial lemniscus and posterior cervical cord. These structures are likely to be affected in Chiari malformation. Therefore, SEP abnormalities may provide valuable information in patients with CM. However, the consistency of SEP abnormality or normality with the damage is a matter of research. Knowing whether median nerve somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) is useful in revealing subclinical damage in patients with Chiari malformation is important in the treatment and follow-up plan of the disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between median nerve SEP values and the severity of cerebellar ectopia in patients with Chiari type 1 malformation. Median nerve SEP values were obtained from 30 healthy individuals and 146 individuals with Chiari malformation. The cerebellar ectopia degree and McRae line length were measured. SEP values were not significantly different between groups. The McRae line was found to be significantly shorter in the control group than in the Chiari malformation group (p = 0.031). There was no correlation between the degree of cerebellar ectopia and the length of the McRae line (r = 0.002, p = 0.979). Neither cerebellar ectopy degree nor McRae line length had a relationship with SEP values (r = -0.153, p = 0.066; r = -0.056, p = 0.500, respectively). There was no difference in cerebellar ectopy degree or SEP values between the groups with cerebellar ectopy with and without a syrinx (p = 0.899; p = 0.080, respectively). Likewise, McRae line length was not found to be related to the presence of a syrinx (p = 0.139). Median nerve SEP examination was not beneficial for diagnosing asymptomatic-oligosymptomatic Chiari malformation as a subclinical injury, whether accompanied by syringomyelia or not.

Chiari Malformation, Cerebellar Ectopy, Somatosensory Evoked Potential

Sahin, M. , Vural, G. , Barakli, S. and Gumusyayla, S. (2024) Median Nerve Somatosensory Evoked Potentials in Patients with Chiari Malformation. World Journal of Neuroscience, 14, 24-32. doi: 10.4236/wjns.2024.141003.