Visual impairment in children with spastic cerebral palsy measured by psychophysical and electrophysiological grating acuity tests

Autor(es)

Costa, Marcelo Fernandes ^{[1, 2, 3]} ; Ventura, Dora Fix ^{[1, 2, 3]}

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Psicol, Dept Psicol Expt, BR-05508900 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Nucleo Neurociencias & Comportamento, BR-05508900 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[3] Univ Sao Paulo, Nucleo Neurociencia Aplicada, BR-05508900 Sao Paulo - Brazil

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: Developmental Neurorehabilitation; v. 15, n. 6, p. 414-424, 2012.
• Citações Web of Science: 5

Resumo

Background: This study measured grating visual acuity in 173 children between 6-48 months of age who had different types of spastic cerebral palsy (CP). Method: Behavioural acuity was measured with the Teller Acuity Cards (TAC) using a staircase psychophysical procedure. Electrophysiological visual acuity was estimated using the sweep VEP (sVEP). Results: The percentage of children outside the superior tolerance limits was 44 of 63 (69%) and 50 of 55 (91%) of tetraplegic, 36 of 56 (64%) and 42 of 53 (79%) of diplegic, 10 of 48 (21%) and 12 of 40 (30%) of hemiplegic for sVEP and TAC, respectively. For the sVEP, the greater visual acuity deficit found in the tetraplegic group was significantly different from that of the hemiplegic group (p < 0.001). In the TAC procedure the mean visual acuity deficits of the tetraplegic and diplegic groups were significantly different from that of hemiplegic group (p < 0.001). The differences between sVEP and TAC means of visual acuity difference were statistically significant for the tetraplegic (p < 0.001), diplegic (p < 0.001), and hemiplegic group (p = 0.004). Discussion: Better visual acuities were obtained in both procedures for hemiplegic children compared to diplegic or tetraplegic. Tetraplegic and diplegic children showed greater discrepancies between the TAC and sVEP results. Inter-ocular acuity difference was more frequent in sVEP measurements. Conclusions: Electrophysiologically measured visual acuity is better than behavioural visual acuity in children with CP. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 02/12733-8 - Perdas sensoriais causadas pela intoxicação mercurial: estudos psicofísicos e neurofisiológicos em pacientes e em modelos animais
• Beneficiário: Dora Selma Fix Ventura
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Temático