To explore the common causes and solutions for artifacts in clinical visual electrophysiological examination.

A cross-sectional study was performed.The clinical visual electrophysiological examination results of 25 001 cases were collected from 2012 to 2020 at the Southwest Hospital/Southwest Eye Hospital, Third Military Medical University (Army Medical University). Artifacts were identified and analyzed according to the standard waveform provided by the International Society for Clinical Electrophysiology of Vision.The characteristics and causes of the artifact were analyzed.The solutions to reduce and eliminate the artifact were proposed.This study adhered to the Declaration of Helsinki.The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Southwest Hospital/Southwest Eye Hospital, Third Military Medical University (Army Medical University) (No.KY2020053).

There were 60 typical artifacts identified among the 25 001 cases.Common causes of the artifacts were classified as three categories, the factors related to subjects, environment, or instruments.Among the 60 cases, 42(70.0%) were caused by tension in head and facial muscles of patients, 9(15.0%) due to blinking of patients, 4(6.7%) resulted from 50 Hz power frequency artifact, 2(3.3%) arisen from abnormal amplifier, and 3(5.0%) for other reasons.The strategies to avoid artifact were as follows.First, examiners could inform patients of the examination process in advance to help patients to relax and avoid the influencing factors, such as muscle tension in head and face, blinking, inattention and so on; second, high-quality 50 Hz hardware wave trap was recommended to reduce 50 Hz artifact, with good ground connection and removing of the high-power electrical appliances near the visual electrophysiological instrument; third, clean the skin sufficiently to reduce the reference electrode impedance to less than 1 kΩ.

There is a variety of artifact waveforms and causes.The technicians should make correct judgments and handle the artifact in time to provide more accurate examination results.The doctors should know about artifact, which is helpful for better interpretation of visual electrophysiological examination reports.

Evoked potentials, visual; Electroretinogram; Electroocoulogram; Artifacts; Visual electrophysiology