Electrophysiological tests and CSF examination in patients with optic neuritis.

Electrophysiological tests (visual and somatosensory evoked potentials, flicker fusion test) and electrophoretic examination of cerebrospinal fluid were performed in 17 patients who previously suffered from one or more attacks of optic neuritis. The association of the tests revealed the demyelinating inflammatory pathogenesis in eight cases. In the remaining nine cases the CSF oligoclonal pattern was absent. The evidence that a bilateral delayed VEP, suggesting a subclinical contralateral involvement of optic pathways, could be related to multiple sclerosis, is discussed. A case was finally ascertained as being affected by Leber's optic atrophy.