Early impairment of foveal magno- and parvocellular pathways in juxta chiasmal tumours.

Foveal pathway visual function was assessed in 11 patients having tumours extending into the suprasellar region but without evidence of visual impairment as assessed by visual acuity and Bjerrum screen campimetry. Psychophysical and routine visual evoked potential (VEP) measurements were obtained from the eye ipsilateral to the maximal suprasellar extension. The sensitivity of luminance and chromatic pathways was assessed psychophysically by measuring increment thresholds for white and red flashes of light presented on a white adapting field. Temporal sensitivity was assessed psychophysically by measuring threshold modulation sensitivity for sinusoidally modulating stimuli (de Lange attenuation characteristic). The patient group showed approximately equal significant psychophysical losses in chromatic, luminance and temporal sensitivities relative to normal controls. Midline VEP P100 latencies of the patient group did not significantly differ from those of the normal control group. It is concluded that tumours extending into the suprasellar region can cause foveal pathway dysfunction affecting both magno- and parvocellular pathways, even in the presence of normal visual acuity and fields suggesting a more widespread and insidious abnormality of the visual pathways in this condition than previously thought.