The value of EEG and cerebral evoked potentials in the assessment of neonatal intracranial hemorrhage

The EEG, visual and auditory evoked potentials (VEP, AEP) were evaluated in 16 full-term newborn infants who had intracranial hemorrhage documented by computerized tomography (CT). Three of them had supratentorial, three, supra- and infratentorial hemorrhage, while the other ten had infra- or peri-tentorial bleeding. Three died during the neonatal period. Eight of the 13 surviving infants were neurologically normal and five were abnormal at the time of the follow-up. Those who had normal or mildly abnormal background EEGs all developed normally, while those whose neonatal EEG was severely abnormal subsequently developed neurological sequelae irrespective of the extent of intracranial hemorrhage. The EEG, VEP or AEP is of little value in the diagnosis of intracranial bleeding but the EEG is valuable in assessing the degree of associated parenchymatous damage and is of great prognostic significance.