Nouvelles méthodes d'objectivation des dommages corporels chez l'Homme

The functional exploration of the nervous system in the intact human subject goes on developing, thanks to the progress produced by electrophysiology and electronics. The adaptation of these techniques to Man necessitates a rigorous and precise definition which allows the specific problems to be resolved and thus to further the progress of medicine. To be really useful and to become indispensable, the expected functional methods of exploration must be meticulously standarised and must take into account the often complex parameters encountered in a wide diversity of clinical situations. One must realise, in fact, that the evoked cerebral potentials are abnormal in hysterical anesthesia. Moreover, attention or distraction can significantly modify the slow components of the cerebral responses and this provides an important route of approach for analyses of the cerebral mechanisms brought into play in the processes of perception and decision. That is why it seems logical to utilise the early components ('primaries') of the cerebral evoked potential and to measure their latency and their voltage when the question arises of proceeding to an evaluation of organic damage which may lie at the level of the somesthetic route.SCOPUS: NotDefined.j