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Measuring multifocal visual evoked potentials can help manage glaucoma
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NEW YORK — Measuring multifocal visual evoked potentials can effectively be used for detecting glaucoma in patients for whom visual field evaluations cannot be reliably obtained or who have visual fields that are not completely clear, according to a presentation here.
Vivienne C. Greenstein, PhD, discussed electrophysiological tests, including multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG) and multifocal visual evoked potentials (mfVEP), at Columbia University's Imaging and Visual Diagnostics: State of the Art meeting. She said mfERG is effective for examining diseases of the outer retina, while mfVEP is effective in glaucoma detection and appears to detect damage to ganglion cells and the optic nerve.
Dr. Greenstein noted that mfVEP will most likely never replace Humphrey visual field tests, the gold standard in glaucoma detection. However, Humphrey visual field testing has limitations, such as the unreliability of evaluations made in poor visual field test takers, she said.
"The mfVEP is still an evolving technology," she said. "The form of [the] test and analysis is changing and will continue to change over the next few years."