The study of the effect of the administration of mannitol on flash visual evoked potentials

Abstract

To study the relationship between the change of N2 wave in flash visual evoked potentials (fVEP) and the intracranial pressure after the administration of mannitol. Fifty-two patients with elevated intracranial pressure were chosen and are divided into two groups: the former (n = 32) were treated with mannitol, the latter (n = 20) were treated with mannitol and glycerol and sodium chloride injection. The latency and amplitude of N2 wave of fVEP was measured by NIP-200 noninvasive intracranial pressure apparatus before and after the 1st, 4th, 10th administration of mannitol. The latency of N2 wave began to reduce at 30 min after the injection of mannitol and was lowest at 2 h. At 4 h after the injection of mannitol, the latency of N2 wave increased but was still shorter than that before the injection of mannitol. The amplitude of N2 wave did not change significantly. The reduction of the latency of N2 wave after the administration of mannitol decreased with the multiple mannitol injection. The latency of N2 wave did not change significantly after the administration of mannitol when combined with glycerol and sodium chloride injection. The latency of N2 wave of fVEP changes after the administration of mannitol, which suggests that the change of the latency of N2 wave of fVEP can reflect the change of intracranial pressure.