Visual evoked potentials in neurosyphilis.

The visual evoked potential (VEP) to pattern reversal was recorded in 79 patients with neurosyphilis. Sixteen patients (20%) had abnormal VEP latencies with a predominance of pathological VEP values in the group of tabes dorsalis (50%) as compared to general paresis (18%) or meningovascular forms (13%). A comparison of the frequency of abnormal VEPs with that of other ophthalmological tests (visual acuity, visual field, central campimetry, pupillary reactions, dark adaptation, optic fundus) yielded no diagnostic superiority of VEP.