title: Visual evoked potentials and pulse wave velocity in inflammatory bowel disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Data about the effects of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) on various functions of the nervous and cardiovascular systems are limited. In this study, the visual neuronal and cardiovascular functions of patients with IBD were evaluated by measuring visual evoked potentials (VEP) and pulse wave velocity (PWV), respectively.
  
  
  METHODS
  There were three study groups: the Crohn's disease (CD) group (n=25), the ulcerative colitis (UC) group (n=30), and a healthy control (C) group (n=25). The exclusion criteria were as follows: patients with IBD were in remission, had no extra-intestinal manifestations of the disease, had no additional chronic disease(s), and had been receiving medical treatment for their IBD without any previous surgical intervention. VEP amplitudes (mV) and the N2 and P2 latencies (ms) were recorded for visual-neuronal analysis of all study groups. For cardiovascular assessment in all study groups, PWV was measured noninvasively as follows: the carotid-femoral PWV with the Complior Colson device (The authors have no conflict of interest.) and the PWV along the aorta with two ultrasound strain-gauge pressure-sensitive transducers (TY-306 Fukuda pressure-sensitive transducers - Fukuda Denshi Co, Tokyo, Japan) fixed transcutaneously over the course of a pair of arteries separated by a known distance. The right femoral and right common carotid arteries were the ones used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The PWV levels of the CD and UC groups were significantly higher than those in the C group (p<0.001). In the bilateral recording of the VEP, the N2 latencies of the CD (p<0.05) and UC (p<0.01) groups were significantly longer than those in the C group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study, we showed vascular and visual neuronal impairments at a subclinical stage in patients with both types of IBD.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, İstanbul University Cerrahpaşa Medical Faculty, İstanbul, Turkey. eaytactr@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Erman
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Aytaç
authors.forename: Deram
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Büyüktaş
authors.forename: Birol
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Baysal
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Atar
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yıldız
authors.forename: Bilgi
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Baca
authors.forename: Tayfun
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Karahasanoğlu
authors.forename: Aykut
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Çelik
authors.forename: Hakki Oktay
authors.initials: HO
authors.lastname: Seymen
authors.forename: İsmail
authors.initials: İ
authors.lastname: Hamzaoğlu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure; D017536:Carotid Artery, Common / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005263:Femoral Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D063177:Pulse Wave Analysis; D014160:Transducers, Pressure; D014463:Ultrasonography