title: Comparison of visual evoked potentials and retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a long term progressive neurodegenerative disease and might affect the retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFLT) of the eye. There is increasing evidence that visual evoked potentials (VEP), which are an objective way to indicate visual field loss, might be affected by the disease as well.
  
  
  METHODS
  About 22 patients (mean age: 75.9 ± 6.1 years; 14 women) with mild-to-moderate AD and 22 sex-matched healthy patients were examined. We compared the use of VEP and RNFLT using the latest high-resolution spectral domain optical coherence tomography with eye-tracking capabilities for optimized peripapillary scan centering for the first time in AD patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean MMSE score was 22.59 ± 5.47 in the AD group, and did not significantly correlate with the VEP latencies. We found no significant difference between the VEP latencies of the AD patients and those of the control patients. No peripapillary sector of the retina had a RNFLT significantly correlated with the VEP latencies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We demonstrated that pattern VEP did not show any significant correlation despite subtle loss in RNFLT. It remains open whether additional flash VEP combined with RNFLT analysis may be useful in diagnosing AD, particularly for mild-to-moderate stages of the disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg , Mannheim , Germany.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kromer
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg , Mannheim , Germany.
authors.forename: Nermin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Serbecic
authors.affiliation: Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg , Mannheim , Germany.
authors.forename: Lucrezia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hausner
authors.affiliation: Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg , Mannheim , Germany.
authors.forename: Lutz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Froelich
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg , Mannheim , Germany.
authors.forename: Sven C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Beutelspacher
keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; dementia; optical coherence tomography; retinal nerve fiber layer thickness; visual evoked potentials