Using advanced analysis of multifocal visual-evoked potentials to evaluate the risk of clinical progression in patients with radiologically isolated syndrome

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 2036
• Main Authors: Miguel, J M, Roldán, M, Pérez-Rico, C, Ortiz, M, Boquete, L, Blanco, R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Nature Publishing Group 21.01.2021; Nature Publishing Group UK; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: Central nervous system; Demyelination; Inflammation; Latency; Visual evoked potentials; Wavelet transforms
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-81826-z

This study aimed to assess the role of multifocal visual-evoked potentials (mfVEPs) as a guiding factor for clinical conversion of radiologically isolated syndrome (RIS). We longitudinally followed a cohort of 15 patients diagnosed with RIS. All subjects underwent thorough ophthalmological, neurological and imaging examinations. The mfVEP signals were analysed to obtain features in the time domain (SNR : amplitude, Lat : monocular latency) and in the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) domain (b : instant in which the CWT function maximum appears, N : number of CWT function maximums). The best features were used as inputs to a RUSBoost boosting-based sampling algorithm to improve the mfVEP diagnostic performance. Five of the 15 patients developed an objective clinical symptom consistent with an inflammatory demyelinating central nervous system syndrome during follow-up (mean time: 13.40 months). The (SNR ) variable decreased significantly in the group that converted (2.74 ± 0.92 vs. 4.07 ± 0.95, p = 0.01). Similarly, the (b ) feature increased significantly in RIS patients who converted (169.44 ± 24.81 vs. 139.03 ± 11.95 (ms), p = 0.02). The area under the curve analysis produced SNR and b values of 0.92 and 0.88, respectively. These results provide a set of new mfVEP features that can be potentially useful for predicting prognosis in RIS patients.