Introduction:

The Visual Evoked Potentials is a neurophysiological technique to provide an objective assessment of the functional integrity of the visual pathway. However, the young children population is a particularly difficult (uncooperative) group to obtain visual responses.

Objective:

The purpose of this study was to describe electrophysiological characteristics of the visual response in children.

Methods:

Descriptive, cross-sectional study. Transient visual evoked potentials with goggles were recorded from 112 healthy children (65 males, 47 females) aged between 3 months to 5 years old. The mean (and standard deviations) for latencies and amplitudes of each component was calculated and both statistical significance in function of age was analyzed (linear regression model). Principal component analysis is use to explain the visual waveform variability. A discriminant equation (with indicators of reliability and noise/signal ratio) is calculate to evaluate contribution in detectability.

Results:

The typical waveform of (N1, P1, N2, components) is consistent and reliable and showed a visual detection level >90% (for each component) and 85% of global success (good classifications) with the discriminant equation. N1-P1-N2 complex is able to explain >70% of the visual response variance. A significant reduction of N1, P1 (N2, marginal) latencies with increasing age is demonstrated (linear regression, p≤0.05). There was no significant difference for age-dependent increased pattern of amplitude data (high variability).

Conclusions:

The visual evoked potentials/goggles obtained in infants and young children are consistent and reliable physiological responses (high detectability) with recognizable morphological variability.

        · resumen en Español     · texto en Español     · Español ( pdf )