Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: to evaluate the course of visual acuity and visual field defect in Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) patients over time. Methods: 833 consecutive RP patients, 710 with primary RP (78 ADRP, 242 ARRP, 20 XLRP, 334 simplex RP, 36 undetermined RP) and 123 with secondary RP, were fully examined at baseline and annual follow-up visits. Visual acuity and visual field (Goldmann, V/4 target) were tested over a follow-up period of 1-12 years.Results: At baseline 30% of patients had a visual acuity of less than 20/60, with 12% of patients legally blind. 40% of patients had tubular visual field (10 central degrees or worse) or peripheral islands of vision. Decrease of visual function during follow-up was associated with age, duration of the disease and genetic subtype of RP. Survival curves after 12 years of follow-up showed impairment of visual acuity (loss of at least two lines) in only 45% of RP patients and in 35% of patients visual field was unchanged. Conclusion:These results show that visual functions deteriorate over time in patients with RP, a good number of patients maintain a relatively useful vision after more than a decade of follow-up. Changes in visual acuity and visual field were asynchronous, the visual field being more severely affected than visual acuity.
Keywords: 568 retinitis • 562 retinal degenerations: hereditary • 352 clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: natural history