Origin of P16 median nerve SEP component identified by dipole source analysis — subthalamic or within the thalamo-cortical radiation?
Following median nerve stimulation, several monophasic peaks were recorded at the scalp in the 15–18 ms time range. Source analysis, using three different methods, modelled a source near the centre of the head with an orientation towards the activated hemisphere and a peak activity at 16 ms post stimulus. Magnetic recordings detected no signal in this time range, which confirmed a subcortical location of the source. From dipole localization it was not possible to assign the exact origin of the P16 source to either the subthalamic level or the thalamo-cortical radiation, because of the limited spatial resolution at the centre of the spherical head model. An estimate of the conduction velocity of the medial lemniscus pointed towards a subthalamic origin. The P16 source was preserved in two patients with a lesion of the thalamo-cortical radiation and the ventral thalamus. Further evidence for a subthalamic location of P16 was derived from the physical mechanisms generating far-field potentials.