Department of Child Health Care, Children's Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, 201102, China.
World J Pediatr. 2010 May;6(2):163-8. doi: 10.1007/s12519-010-0032-3. Epub 2010 May 21.
Increased prevalence of visual impairments has been reported in preterm populations. However, it remains unclear about the long-term visual electrophysiological outcomes and their association with visual cognitive functions in premature infants. We investigated visual electrophysiological outcome of 2-year-old infants of different birth weights by flash visual evoked potentials (FVEPs) in order to explore the correlation between visual cognitive functions and FVEPs and to assess the application of FVEPs in evaluating the visual capability of an infant.
The FVEPs of 77 infants, including 25 very low birth weight (VLBW) premature infants, 16 low birth weight (LBW) premature infants and 36 full-term infants, were tested with a visual electrophysiological testing device. Neuromotor development was assessed with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Second Edition (BSID-II). The visual cognitive functions were evaluated by scoring the proportion passed of 12 items chosen from the BSID-II for infants at 23 to 25 months of age.
The second prominent positive wave (P2) was the major component presented in all three groups. The mean latency of P2 in the VLBW, LBW and full-term groups was 149.65+/-23.79 ms, 129.39+/-8.70 ms, and 126.14+/-7.73 ms respectively. There was no significant difference in mean latency of P2 wave between the LBW and full-term groups; the mean latency of the P2 wave in the VLBW group was delayed more significantly than those of the other two groups. The difference in amplitude of the P2 peak to the preceding N2 peak (N2P2) between the three groups was not statistically significant. The latency of the P2 main wave was negatively correlated with mental developmental index (MDI) (r'(MDI) = -0.35) and visual cognitive capability (r'(visual capability) = -0.21).
The latency of the P2 main wave on FVEPs was delayed more significantly in premature infants than in full-term infants at 2 years of corrected age. The visual functional development was delayed in premature infants, especially in VLBW infants (gestational age <32 weeks). The FVEPs were reported low but there were statistically significant correlations between measures of visual cognition and P2 peak latency. As a noninvasive and convenient method, FVEPs are useful in assessing certain aspects of an infant's visual development and visual function.
早产儿中视觉障碍的患病率有所增加。然而，早产儿的长期视觉电生理结果及其与视觉认知功能的关系尚不清楚。我们通过闪光视觉诱发电位（FVEP）研究了不同出生体重的 2 岁婴儿的视觉电生理结果，以探讨视觉认知功能与 FVEP 的相关性，并评估 FVEP 在评估婴儿视觉能力方面的应用。
使用视觉电生理测试设备对 77 名婴儿（包括 25 名极低出生体重（VLBW）早产儿、16 名低出生体重（LBW）早产儿和 36 名足月婴儿）的 FVEP 进行了测试。神经运动发育采用贝利婴幼儿发展量表第二版（BSID-II）进行评估。23 至 25 个月龄的婴儿通过对 BSID-II 中选择的 12 个项目的通过率进行评分，评估视觉认知功能。
在所有三组中，第二个明显的正波（P2）都是主要成分。VLBW、LBW 和足月组 P2 的平均潜伏期分别为 149.65+/-23.79ms、129.39+/-8.70ms 和 126.14+/-7.73ms。LBW 组和足月组 P2 波平均潜伏期无显著性差异；VLBW 组 P2 波的平均潜伏期明显延迟。三组间 P2 波峰至前 N2 波峰（N2P2）的振幅差异无统计学意义。P2 主波潜伏期与精神发育指数（MDI）呈负相关（r'（MDI）=-0.35），与视觉认知能力呈负相关（r'（视觉能力）=-0.21）。
在 2 年矫正年龄时，早产儿 FVEP 的 P2 主波潜伏期明显延迟。早产儿的视觉功能发育迟缓，尤其是极低出生体重儿（胎龄<32 周）。FVEP 报道的潜伏期较低，但视觉认知和 P2 峰值潜伏期之间存在统计学显著相关性。作为一种非侵入性和方便的方法，FVEP 可用于评估婴儿视觉发育和视觉功能的某些方面。
