title: Sensitivity of visual evoked potentials and spectral domain optical coherence tomography in early relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Visual evoked potentials and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography are common ancillary studies that assess the visual pathways from a functional and structural aspect, respectively.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To compare prevalence of abnormalities of Visual evoked potentials (VEP) and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SDOCT) in patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS).
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study of 100 eyes with disease duration of less than 5 years since the diagnosis. Correlation between retinal nerve fiber layer and ganglion-cell/inner plexiform layer with pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials amplitude and latency and contrast sensitivity was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of abnormalities in pattern-reversal visual VEP was 56% while that of SOCT was 48% in all eyes. There was significant negative correlations between the average RNFL (r=-0.34, p=0.001) and GCIPL (r=-0.39, p<0.001) with VEP latency. In eyes with prior optic neuritis, a significant negative correlation was seen between average RNFL (r=-0.33, p=0.037) and GCIPL (r=-0.40, p=0.010) with VEP latency.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We have found higher prevalence of VEP abnormalities than SCOCT in early relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. This suggests that VEP has a higher sensitivity for detecting lesions of the visual pathway in patients with early RRMS.
authors.affiliation: Opthalmology Clinic, Dasman Institute, Dasman, Kuwait; Al-Bahar Ophthalmology Center, Ibn Sina Hospital, Kuwait. Electronic address: raed.behbehani@dasmaninstitute.org.
authors.forename: Raed
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Behbehani
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Ibn Sina Hospital, Kuwait; Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Minia University, Egypt.
authors.forename: Samar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Ibn Sina Hospital, Kuwait; Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University, Kuwait.
authors.forename: Jasem
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Al-Hashel
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Ibn Sina Hospital, Kuwait.
authors.forename: Rossen T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Rousseff
authors.affiliation: Opthalmology Clinic, Dasman Institute, Dasman, Kuwait; Division of Neurology, Amiri Hospital, Sharq, Kuwait.
authors.forename: Raed
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Alroughani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015350:Contrast Sensitivity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020529:Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D009902:Optic Neuritis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D009929:Organ Size; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D015995:Prevalence; D012160:Retina / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers; D013997:Time Factors; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods; D014785:Vision, Ocular / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Axonal loss; Ganglion cell/inner plexiform layer; Multiple sclerosis; Optical coherence tomography; Retinal nerve fiber layer; Visual evoked potentials