Visual evoked potentials (VEP) studies in primary open glaucoma

Abstract

Background: With increasing prevalance of primary open angle glaucoma and optic nerve damage as a consequence of this, there is a need for early diagnosis and prevention of optic nerve damage. VEP, the potential recorded from the occipital region in response to the visual stimuli can be used for early detection of the primary open angle glaucoma. Visual evoked potential (VEP) is a non invasive method to assess the visual pathway. The present study was done to evaluate the impact of primary open angle glaucoma on central nervous system particularly, visual pathway. Methods: 30 primary open angle glaucoma patients attending outpatient department of ophthalmology department, SS hospital, Davanagere and 30 age matched controls selected randomly from general population were subjected to Visual evoked potential. Parameters for VEP such as latencies of waves N70, P100, and N155 peak-to-peak amplitudes of waves N70-P100 and P100-N155 were assessed and analyzed by using unpaired student-T test for comparison between cases and controls. Results: The present study observed that the there was a statistically significant increase in P100 latency in cases compared to the controls. And also there was a statistically significant decrease in N70 and P100 amplitude in cases compared to the controls. Conclusion: The present study correlates with earlier findings that visual pathway gets involved in primary open angle glaucoma even before the development of neuropathy which can be detected using VEP. Meticulous follow-up is a must to prevent the complications of primary open angle glaucoma, so that further damage can be prevented.