[The prognosis for the visual outcomes in the surgical treatment of children with congenital partial cataracts].

The authors suggest a method for assessment of the severity of visual function impairment in obscuration amblyopia (OA) by objective (based on recording the visual evoked potentials--VEP) examination of space contrast sensitivity in low-frequency band. Forty-one normal children and 60 children with ophthalmic diseases (96 eyes, of these 55 with aphakia and artiphakia after removal of congenital cataracts and 41 with congenital partial cataracts) were examined. Three types of VEP were distinguished, with different degrees of manifestation. A correlation was demonstrated between VEP type and OA severity in children with aphakia and artiphakia. Use of this method in patients with partial cataracts helps predict visual outcomes of surgery, provided the intensity of the lens opacity is taken into consideration; the reliability of the estimation of the authors' material has made up 90.0 +/- 4.6%.