Electrically elicited blink reflex in handicapped children
Tanaka, J.; Abe, J.; Futagi, Y.; Mimaki, T.; Yabuuchi, H.
No to Hattatsu 19(6): 475-479
1987
ISSN/ISBN: 0029-0831 PMID: 2961350 Document Number: 291494
Recently, the blink reflex (BR) has proved to be useful for evaluation of the brain stem function and has been investigated in different neurological diseases. We investigated electrically elicited BR in 30 handicapped children, aged 7 months to 13 years, and studied the relationship between the BR pattern and the clinical findings. Twenty of the 30 cases exhibited idiocys and could not rotate their trunks by themselves. The BR was classified into 9 types; A) no response (1) B) R 1 on one side only (1), C) absence of bilateral R 2 (1), D) depressed R 1 and R 2 on one side (1), E) depressed bilateral R 2 (9), F) delayed R 1 and R 2 latency (3), G) delayed R 2 latency (2), H) delayed R 1 latency (2) and I) normal response (10). Each case of showing types A-D, which suggested a greater suppresion of brain stem function, had respiratory disturbance and dysphagia. Out of the 9 showing type E, whose motor and mental disturbances were severe, 7 had stridor and 2 dysphagia. Out of the 17 showing type F-I, 12 were idiocy and 7 had severe motor disturbance, but only one had stridor and none had swallowing problems. This may indicate that in some cases of severe handicapped children without dysphagia, respiratory disturbance of stridor, there are a normal brain stem function and normal BR. We conclude that BR is a simple and objective neurophysiological test for evaluating the brain stem function related to neural organization of respiration and deglutition in children with neurological disorders.