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Results: Patients with macular disease produced significant delay of P100 latency and amplitude attenuation of the steady-state VECP, as compared with healthy subjects. P100 latency delay was less in patients with macular disease than in those with optic neuritis, while the attenuation rate of the steady-state VECP amplitude was similar between groups. Visual acuity was correlated with P100 latency and steady-state VECP amplitude reduction. Conclusions: Although the delay of latency was less in patients with macular disease than in those with optic neuritis, the electrophysiologic alterations that occur in macular disease demonstrate a potential for diagnostic value at the level of the retina.

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ABSTRACT.Purpose: To compare the diagnostic value for optic neuritis between transient pattern visual evoked potentials (PVECP) and steady-state PVECP. Subjects & Methods: We retrospectively studied 86 eyes of 69 patients with optic neuritis who visited our clinic. PVECPs to 3 rev/sec stimulation (transient) and 12 rev/sec stimulation (steady-state), were recorded in all patients. Results: All of the cases with non-recordable transient PVECP showed non recordable steady-state PVECP. Conversely, the cases with non-recordable steady-state PVECP often showed measurable transient PVECP where the latency of the P100 component was delayed. In 51 cases with unilateral optic neuritis, the amplitude ratio of the P100; affected eye/non-affected eye was significantly smaller in the steady-state PVECP than in the transient PVECP. Conclusion:To detect visual dysfunction in optic neuritis, a steady-state PVECP was more sensitive than a transient PVECP.

A delay of the peak latency of the pattern visual evoked cortical potentials (pVEP) is accepted as one of the paraclinical evidence for a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the pVEPs in Japanese patients with MS without a history of visual pathway involvement. We studied the medical records of 29 MS patients without any history of visual pathway involvement, and with visual acuity correctable to > or = 20/20. The Goldmann visual fields, pupillary light reflexes, and optic disks were normal in all. pVEPs elicited by 3 rev/s (transient) and 12 rev/s (steady-state) were recorded from the MS patients and compared with those recorded from normal subjects. The latency of the P100 component of the transient pVEPs was significantly prolonged in 9/29 (31%) MS patients. A phase lag in the steady-state pVEPs was found in 6/29 (21%) MS patients, and the mean amplitude was significantly smaller. The incidence of cases with abnormal pVEPs is lower than that reported from Europe and United State. This difference is possibly due to racial differences, and the use of different criteria for diagnosing optic neuritis.