Journal
NEUROLOGY
Volume 73, Issue 22, Pages 1849-1857Publisher
LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS
DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e3181c3fd43
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Funding
- Office of Research and Development, Medical Research Service
- MS Centers of Excellence, Department of Veterans Affairs
- NIH [EY06717]
- Evenor Armington Fund
- Novartis
- NIH/NEI [R01 EY16501, R01 EY12830, R01 EY06717]
- Department of Veterans Affairs
- Foundation Fighting Blindness Center
- American Health Assistance Foundation
- State of Ohio BRTT Award
- University Hospitals of Cleveland
- NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTE [R01EY006717, R01EY016501, R01EY012830] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
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Background: Contrast acuity (identification of low-contrast letters on a white background) is frequently reduced in patients with demyelinating optic neuropathy associated with multiple sclerosis (MS), even when high-contrast (Snellen) visual acuity is normal. Since visual evoked potentials (VEPs) induced with high-contrast pattern-reversal stimuli are typically increased in latency in demyelinating optic neuropathy, we asked if VEPs induced with low-contrast stimuli would be more prolonged and thus helpful in identifying demyelinating optic neuropathy in MS. Methods: We studied 15 patients with clinically definite MS and 15 age-matched normal controls. All subjects underwent a neuro-ophthalmologic assessment, including measurement of high-contrast visual acuity and low-contrast acuities with 25%, 10%, 5%, 2.5%, and 1.25% contrast Sloan charts. In patients with MS, peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness was determined using optical coherence tomography. Monocular VEPs were induced using pattern-reversal checkerboard stimuli with 100% and 10% contrast between checks, at 5 spatial frequencies (8-130 minutes of arc). Results: VEP latencies were significantly increased in response to low-compared with high-contrast stimuli in both groups. VEP latencies were significantly greater in patients with MS than controls for both high-and low-contrast stimuli. VEP latencies correlated with high-and low-contrast visual acuities and RNFL thickness. VEPs were less likely to be induced with low-than with high-contrast stimuli in eyes with severe residual visual loss. Conclusions: Visual evoked potentials obtained in patients with multiple sclerosis using low-contrast stimuli are increased in latency or absent when compared with those obtained using high-contrast stimuli and, thus, may prove to be helpful in identifying demyelinating optic neuropathy. Neurology (R) 2009; 73: 1849-1857
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