Evoked potential studies in neurological disorders

Techniques for recording and analysing visual and somatosensory evoked reponses using an on-line PDP 11/40 computer have been developed and applied to a group of subjects with established or suspected multiple sclerosis as well as to patients with a variety of other lesions of the visual pathways, myoclonic epilepsy and functional neurological deficits. The most consistent responses were obtained using the pattern reversal visual evoked response and the spinal somatosensory evoked response, abnormal responses being found with both techniques in a significant number of patients with suspected demyelinating disease even in the absence of symptoms or signs referable to the visual or somatosensory pathways. The complementary role of these techniques in the detection of sub-clinical abnormalities of conduction in sensory pathways in patients with suspected MS is emphasized.