Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 24, 2026
Dynamic Visual Tests to Identify and Quantify Visual Damage and Repair Following Demyelination in Optic Neuritis Patients
Published on: April 14, 2014
Evaluation of visual structural and functional factors that predict the development of multiple sclerosis in
Consuelo Pérez-Rico1, Lucia Ayuso-Peralta2, Lluisa Rubio-Pérez2
1Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Príncipe de Asturias and Department of Surgery, University of Alcalá, Madrid, Spain.
Purpose:
To evaluate visual pathway structure and function in patients with clinical isolated syndrome (CIS) by using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) and multifocal visual-evoked potentials (mfVEP), predicting CIS conversion to clinically definite multiple sclerosis (MS).
Methods:
This observational, longitudinal study assessed the eyes with no previous history of optic neuritis of 29 consecutive patients with CIS according to the McDonald criteria. The relationships of the mfVEP results with the clinical findings, and psychophysical (Humphrey perimetry) and structural (OCT) diagnostic test data were investigated.
Results:
The mfVEP amplitude responses (interocular and monocular probability analysis) showed abnormal cluster visual field defects in 48.3% of the CIS eyes, whereas mfVEP latency analysis showed significant delays in 20.7%. The OCT average retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFLT) was significantly reduced compared with the control group (P = 0.02). Significant differences between CIS eyes with abnormal and normal mfVEP latencies were found for the OCT RNFLT (P < 0.001) with a longer latency being linked to more severe axonal damage. Using multivariate logistic regression analysis, OCT average RNFLT was found to be an independent predictor of clinically definitive MS diagnosis at 12 months.
Conclusions:
The combined use of OCT and mfVEP is helpful to detect significant subclinical visual pathway abnormalities and axonal loss in CIS patients. Retinal axonal loss measured by OCT is an important prognostic factor of conversion to MS in patients with CIS in absence of symptomatic optic neuritis.
