Abstract: Objective To evaluate the importance of somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs)in the assessment of prognosis of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) coupled with disorder of consciousness,following the treatment of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO),through observing whether there were SEPs in them.Methods Forty-nine cases of TBI coupled with conscious disorder were divided into 2 groups,depending on whether there were SEPs in them.Effects of treatment were assessed by using the JFK Coma Recover Scale-Revised (CRS-R) and the clinical diagnosis of consciousness.Both groups were aggressively treated with dehydration,arousing from the state of unconsciousness,promoting blood circulation to remove stasis,nutrition of nerve cells,HBO therapy and rehabilitation therapy.Results Conscious recovery rate for the patients with positive SEPs was obviously superior to those with bilaterally negative SEPs patients (P < 0.01).None of the cases with bilaterally negative SEPs returned to consciousness.Conclusions (1) Bilaterally negative SEPs are of great significance for predicting whether trauma patients will come to consciousness,which can be taken as an independent factor for predicting clinical prognosis of TBI patients coupled with conscious disorder.(2) The prognosis and outcome of patients with positive SEPs are obviously superior to those patients with negative SEPs.