Birth Asphyxia. I. Measurement of Visual Evoked Potential (VEP) in the Healthy Fetus and Newborn Lamb
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Date
1981
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Abstract
The visual evoked potential (VEP) of five healthy, near-term
exteriorized fetal lambs was compared with the VEP obtained
from the same animals during the first hour after ventilation.
Characteristics of the individual wave components and their relationship
to blood pressure, heart rate, and arterial blood gas
measurements concomitantly obtained were examined. ~esults
show that the VEP of the healthy fetus is a stable, reproducible
signal consisting of four basic components, and that the latencies
(msec) and the amplitude (pV) of the individual components of the
VEP are similar to those of the newborn. In two related experiments,
fetal asphyxia of unknown duration was encountered during
fetal exteriorization and instrumentation. In the first case, neonatal
acidosis persisted despite aggressive resuscitation efforts
and was accompanied by an atypical VEP. In the second case, the
neonatal VEP obtained after 15 min of resuscitation was markedly
depressed despite restoration of acid-base balance but gradually
recovered during the remainder of the 1-hr newborn period. In
conclusion, the VEP is a reproducible measure of cortical function
in the healthy fetus and neonate and may reflect the acute status
of cerebral function during fetal asphyxia and neonatal resuscitation.
Description
Keywords
Asphyxia, Newborn, Brain, visual evoked potential (VEP), Fetus
Citation
Woods, J. R., Coppes, V., Brooks, D. E., Knowles, P. J., Freeman, M., Parisi, V., ... & Mccarty, G. E. (1981). Birth asphyxia. I. Measurement of visual evoked potential (VEP) in the healthy fetus and newborn lamb. Pediatric research, 15(11), 1429-1432.