Laryngeal Brain-Stem-Evoked Response

Abstract

At the annual meeting of the American Laryngological Association in San Francisco, Calif, Drs Cynthia Anonsen and Lauren Lalakea, Stanford (Calif) University, and Dr Maureen Hannley, Washington, DC, presented their work in evaluating far-field brain-stem recordings in response to electrical stimulation of the superior laryngeal nerve in cats. In the first part of the study, nasopharyngeal and posterior cervical electrodes were used for recording, and animals were anesthetized and paralyzed. Six positive and five negative reproducible waves were observed, which corresponded closely to those previously reported by investigators in Japan. Anonsen and coworkers also looked at the effects of stimulus intensity and repetition rate on this response. In contrast to the auditory brain-stem response, the laryngeal brain-stem response does not appear to change as a function of these parameters. This study also explored the possibility of obtaining brain-stem recordings without paralysis. By