Visually evoked cortical potentials to pattern disappearance stimuli in multiple sclerosis

Abstract

Visually evoked cortical potentials (VECPs) to pattern disappearance stimuli were studied in 32 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). The mean peak latencies of the disappearance response were prolonged significantly in eyes with a history of optic neuritis compared with those obtained from normal subjects, whereas no significant delay of the response was found in eyes without such a history, with a history of ocular muscle paresis, or in unaffected eyes with a history of unilateral optic neuritis. In contrast to the pattern reversal response, the disappearance response did not show a delay in subclinical optic neuritis in MS. It was, thus, suggested that the natural characteristics of the two responses were different in the patients with multiple sclerosis.