Involvement of somatosensory and visual pathways in late onset ataxia

Nerve conduction studies, median nerve somatosensory (SEPs) and pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials (VEPs) were recorded in 10 patients with late onset ataxia. Nine patients had dysfunction of somatosensory pathways, eight of them axonal polyneuropathy in nerve conduction measurements, and four had also impaired impulse conduction along the visual pathways. Abnormalities in records of evoked potentials occurred as prolonged latencies rather than reduced amplitudes. The observed dysfunction of peripheral and central pathways was not related to the duration or the severity of the clinical involvement by the disease. It is emphasized, however, that there seemed to be a relationship between the prolonged SEP latencies and the impaired peripheral nerve conduction values and between the diminished VEP amplitudes and the most delayed VEP latencies.