Pattern Reversal Visual Evoked Potential in Glaucoma

Glaucoma,a disorder of the eye, is recognised as one of the leading cause of blindness among adult population.Central nervous system particularly the visual pathway gets involved even before the onset of symptoms. Visual evoked potential can be employed as a tool in these group of patients to find out the involvement of nervous pathways at the subclinical stage in a simple and non invasive way. The aim of the study is to evaluate visual evoked potentials in glaucoma patients and to compare it with age and gender matched healthy controls. To assess the association between waveforms of VEP and cup disc ratio in individuals affected with glaucoma.30 glaucoma subjects and 30 healthy controls are enrolled for the present study. VEP recording is done using white and black checkerboard stimulation pattern. N75, P100 and N145 latencies and P100-N75 amplitude are recorded.The present study reveals the latencies of N75 and P100 are increased in glaucoma patients that are statistically significant as compared to the control group. There is also a significant correlation between the latency of VEP parameters and cup disc ratio.Alterations in optic nerve pathway can be detected at the preclinical stage using Pattern reversal visual evoked potential in glaucoma patients. Visual Evoked Potential can be applied as a non -invasive tool to evaluate and to monitor the visual pathway to prevent or delay the progression of blindness in glaucoma patients at the earlier stages.