Comparing Colored and White-Black Visual Evoked Potentials in Multiple Sclerosis Patients.

INTRODUCTION

We compared white-black (WB), white-red (WR), and black-red (BR) checkerboard stimulated visual evoked potentials (VEPs) in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and aimed to evaluate if redcolored VEP is more sensitive than WB VEP for the diagnosis of optic neuritis (ON).

METHODS

Twenty-nine MS patients (21 females [72.4%]) and 35 healthy control subjects (24 females [68.6%]) were included in the study. Neurological and ophthalmological examinations were conducted for all subjects and VEP and optical coherence tomography (OCT) investigations were performed.

RESULTS

A significant difference was found between MS patients and the control group for WB, WR, BR stimulated VEP P100 latencies and retinal nerve fiber length (RNFL) and ganglion cell complex (GCC) thicknesses, but there was no difference for WB, WR, and rb stimulated VEP amplitude values between the groups. There was no significant pathological difference between the eyes with an ON history in MS and eyes without an ON history in MS and control subjects after WB, WR, and BR stimulation (p=).

CONCLUSIONS

The WB checkerboard stimulated VEP is an ample test for routine use; further studies are necessary regarding the utility of rb stimulated VEP in detecting subclinical ON.