Objective visual field evaluation using multifocal visual evoked potentials in patients with intracranial disease complicated by mental disorders.

OBJECTIVES

We investigated whether visual field defects can be objectively evaluated using multifocal visual evoked potentials (mfVEPs) in patients with intracranial disease complicated by mental disorders.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

First, to determine the normal pattern of mfVEPs, recordings were performed using a VERIS Junior Science recording apparatus (Mayo, Aichi, Japan) in 40 healthy subjects. Responses from 8 sites in each subject were divided into 4 quadrants (superior and inferior temporal quadrants and superior and inferior nasal quadrants). In each quadrant, two response waves were grouped and averaged, and the peak latency and amplitude were used for assessment. mfVEP recordings were also performed in 3 patients with intracranial disease complicated by mental disorders, in whom dynamic or static perimetry was impossible, or in whom reliable data could not be obtained, and quadrants showing abnormalities were compared with the sites of intracranial lesions observed by imaging techniques.

RESULTS

In the 40 normal subjects, no significant differences were observed in the peak latency among the 4 quadrants, but the amplitude was significantly higher in the inferior than in the superior semi-field. mfVEPs in the 3 patients revealed abnormal waves, which corresponded to the lesions observed by imaging techniques.

CONCLUSION

The objective evaluation of visual field defects using mfVEPs may be useful in patients with intracranial disease complicated by mental disorders, in whom kinetic/static perimetry as a subjective examination is difficult.