Pattern shift visual, brainstem auditory, and short-latency somatosensory evoked potentials in multiple sclerosis.

Pattern shift visual (PSVER), brainstem auditory (BAER), and short-latency somatosensory (SER) evoked potentials are practical and reliable clinical tests that provide objective measures of impulse conduction in the respective central nervous system (CNS) white matter tracts. In large groups of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), the abnormality rates were 56, 32, and 60% (PSVER, BAER, and SER, respectively). Evidence of clinically unsuspected lesions was found in 42, 21, and 51%, respectively. Abnormality rates for a definite MS group alone were higher. The tests provide confirmatory and additional evidence for multiple lesions in CNS white matter. They may also provide an objective assessment of the efficacy of therapeutic regimens.