Do visual evoked potentials detect neural damage in children treated for cancer?

Abnormal visual evoked potentials (VEPs) have been reported in children treated for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), which suggests that VEPs may be useful in screening for toxicity. The authors investigated this by recording flash and pattern VEPs in a control group of 34 siblings of patients, a group of six children studied longitudinally during the early stages of treatment for ALL, and three other follow-up groups. In only three follow-up patients were VEP results outside the normal range and the six ALL patients did not develop new abnormalities during early treatment. Although differences were detected between the groups, there was no evidence of VEPs being a useful means of monitoring the treatment of individual patients.