Usefulness of somatosensory and motor evoked potentials for lesion localization. Clin Neurol Neurosurg. 2013;115:1917-1918. [PMID: 23481898 DOI: 10.1016/j.clineuro.2013.02.011]

Value of evoked potential in study of functional bowel disorders

In recent years, the development of neurogastroenterology and the application of neurophysiologic examinations have gradually revealed the association of gastrointestinal activity with cortical activity through the efferent and afferent pathways. The state of nerve conduction pathway between the brain and gastrointestinal tract is closely related with specific functions of the anus and rectum. Scholars have put forward the "brain gut axis" and "brain gut interaction" theories to explain the bidirectional interaction between the gastrointestinal tract and central nervous system. Evoked potentials have an important role in the diagnosis and research of electrophysiological changes in various parts of the neural system, which provides practical information for the study of the brain-gut pathway, promotes the diagnosis and understanding of diseases related to the brain-gut axis abnormalities, and provides the basis for developing new treatment methods. In this paper, we summarize the roles of various evoked potential techniques in the study of functional bowel disorders.