[Clinical application of quantitative evaluation of horizontal pursuit movements of the eye]

Horizontal smooth pursuit eye movements were quantitatively evaluated in forty patients with various neurological diseases (chronic alcoholism, acusticusneurinom and multiple sclerosis) as well as in twenty-four healthy subjects. Different frequency sinusoidal targets with an amplitude of 20 degrees were used. The quantitative analysis was possible after calculating the pursuit value as the difference between the saccadic part and the maximal amplitude of the recorded eye movement. Maximal and minimal P-values of 0.5, 0.7 and 0.9 Hz were chosen in the discriminant analyses. It is suggested that these parameters are very helpful in distinguishing between the groups of patients and the group of subjects.