Age- and frequency-dependent changes in dynamic contrast perception in visual snow syndrome

Objective Patients with visual snow syndrome (VSS) suffer from a debilitating continuous (“TV noise-like”) visual disturbance. They report problems with vision at night and palinopsia despite normal visual acuity. The underlying pathophysiology of VSS is largely unknown. Currently, it is a clinical...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of headache and pain 2021-12, Vol.22 (1), p.148-148, Article 148
Main Authors: Eren, Ozan E., Straube, Andreas, Schöberl, Florian, Ruscheweyh, Ruth, Eggert, Thomas, Schankin, Christoph J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acuity
Age groups
Aging
Case-Control Studies
Contrast Sensitivity
Contrast threshold
Diagnosis
Dynamic contrast perception
Frequency dependence
Gender differences
Headache
Humans
Internal Medicine
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Migraine
Migraine Disorders
Neurological disorders
Neurology
Pain Medicine
Pathophysiology
Patients
Research Article
Vision
Vision Disorders - diagnosis
Visual acuity
Visual impairment
Visual Pathways
Visual perception
Visual snow syndrome
Visual thresholds
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Summary:Objective Patients with visual snow syndrome (VSS) suffer from a debilitating continuous (“TV noise-like”) visual disturbance. They report problems with vision at night and palinopsia despite normal visual acuity. The underlying pathophysiology of VSS is largely unknown. Currently, it is a clinical diagnosis based on the patient’s history, an objective test is not available. Here, we tested the hypothesis that patients with VSS have an increased threshold for detecting visual contrasts at particular temporal frequencies by measuring dynamic contrast detection-thresholds. Methods Twenty patients with VSS were compared to age-, gender-, migraine- and aura-matched controls in this case-control study. Subjects were shown bars randomly tilted to the left or right, flickering at six different frequencies (15 Hz, 20 Hz, 25 Hz, 30 Hz, 35 Hz, 40 Hz). The contrast threshold (CT) for detection of left or right tilt was measured in a two-alternative adaptive forced-choice procedure (QUEST). The threshold was defined as the Michelson contrast necessary to achieve the correct response in 75% of the cases. Results The CT increased for higher flicker frequencies (ANOVA: main effect frequency : F (5,180) = 942; p  
ISSN:1129-2369
1129-2377
DOI:10.1186/s10194-021-01355-y