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.