ABSTRACT
Serial improvement in the ocular microtremor (OMT) records correlated with a clinical improvement and the reverse was also true. Serial change was seen in the records of a patient who had taken an overdose of barbiturates. Recording OMT activity is a more sensitive test of rostral brainstem function. OMT activity has been found in patients with fixed dilated pupils, absent corneal reflexes, and absent caloric oculovestibular responses. OMT activity has also been found in a patient with all the recognized manifestations of brain death, including an isoelectric electroencephalogram (EEG) and in another patient with absent brain stem reflexes and a virtually isoelectric EEG. The low agreement rates on clinical assessment of ocular signs when performed by experts emphasizes the advantage of quantifiable data such as OMT records when making important decisions on patient prognosis. Another advantage of OMT lies in the fact that records can also be stored and produced later if necessary.
