[Visually evoked cortical potentials for early detection of optic neuritis in ethambutol therapy]

Ethambutol leads to chronic, severe optic neuritis with sudden onset in approximately 5-14% of all patients. Therefore, the ability of visually (pattern) evoked potentials for the early diagnosis of ethambutol-induced optic neuritis was tested. During ethambutol therapy prolonged latency was documented in 5 of 15 cases (33%). One of these 5 cases showed a reversible decrease in visual acuity. Thus, during treatment with ethambutol visually (pattern) evoked potentials may reveal a surprisingly high percentage of subclinical optic neuritis. These patients need close supervision in order to facilitate early discontinuation of the drug when neuritis develops.