Abstract

The pattern-reversal visual evoked potential (VEP) is a sensitive measure of lesions of the anterior visual pathway; the VEP exhibits characteristic changes in idiopathic optic neuritis, optic neuritis associated with multiple sclerosis, ischemic optic neuropathy, compressive neuropathy, amblyopia and other disorders. It has been suggested that one can differentiate among optic neuritis, ischemic optic neuropathy and compressive optic neuropathy on the basis of latency and amplitude changes.^1,2 Sometimes these differences are compelling. P₁ latency delays in optic neuritis have been reported to be as long as 100 msec.³ In contrast, the VEP in compressive lesions may be extinguished, or severely reduced with only minimal delays in timing². However, the distribution of amplitude reductions and timing delays for these 2 groups of patients overlap to the extent that VEPs recorded for a single check size will not always distinguish one group from the other.

© 1985 Optical Society of America