[Clinical application of multifocal visual evoked potentials in children with epilepsy caused by intracranial disease].

PURPOSE: We investigated whether visual field defects could be objectively evaluated using multifocal visual evoked potential(m-VEP) in two children with epilepsy caused by intracranial disease in whom it was difficult to measure the visual field.

METHODS

To determine normal waves in m-VEP, recording was performed using a visual evoked response imaging system(VERIS)Junior Science program (Mayo, Aichi, Japan) in 20 healthy children (20 eyes); peak latency and amplitude were used for assessment. In the two children with epilepsy, m-VEPs were recorded, and compared with the results of static perimetry or the lesions observed by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

RESULTS

In the 20 healthy children, there was no significant difference in the peak latency or amplitude among 4 quadrants by one-way analysis of variance. m-VEP in the children with epilepsy showed abnormal waves, corresponding to the visual field defects in the static perimetry or the lesions observed by MRI.

CONCLUSIONS

Objective evaluation of visual field defects using m-VEP may be useful in children with epilepsy caused by intracranial disease in whom kinetic/static perimetry as a subjective examination is difficult.