[Modified neuronal processing of oVEMPs in patients with multiple sclerosis]

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease of the central nervous system, which is reflected in impaired transmission of impulses due to damage to the myelin layer. In addition to the visual evoked potentials, the vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) are increasingly considered for diagnosis. Due to a low signal-to-noise ratio, several hundred stimulus responses are usually averaged in order to determine the amplitude and latencies from these curves. However, this averaging procedure also filters out information that, if taken into account, could provide further insights into the course of the disease.16 young patients with MS and an EDSS score of 1.4 ± 0.6 were compared with 92 healthy subjects of the same age. Amplitude, latency, AR and five new parameters from the analysis were used as parameters from the tactile evoked oVEMPs.The total n10 amplitude and the n10 amplitude on the left side showed relevant differences though not reaching statistical significance. In contrast, the n10 amplitude on the right side and the LSD parameter were not significantly different. All n10 latencies and the AR as well as all parameters from the novelty analysis were significantly different.On the one hand, the present study confirms already known changes in the registration of oVEMPs in patients with MS compared to healthy subjects and, on the other hand, the new parameters have the potential to better describe the current state of the disease and to provide detailed information about the current state of myelination or the site of pathophysiological processes within the CNS.