Abstract
Purpose :
To investigate the relationship between retinal thickness, integrity of the third high reflective band (3rd HRB) and visual acuity in retinitis pigmentosa
Methods :
The full, inner, and outer retinal thickness and third high reflective band (3rd HRB) were measured in 54 eyes of retinitis pigmentosa (RP) patients (n=27) without cystoid macular edema (CME) having best corrected visual acuity (BSCVA) ranging from 20/400 to 20/20 and compared to 54 eyes of control group (n=27) using Fourier domain RTVue-100 (Optovue) Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT).
Results :
All retinitis pigmentosa patients showed gradually marked thinning in all central concentric zones and retinal quadrants compared to control group (P<0.0001) with more thinning in the outer retinal layers than the inner retina. This thinning is highly correlated with visual acuity decline and the third high reflective band (3rd HRB) appearance in which the visual acuity and full foveal thickness (FT) were significantly affected (P<0.0001).
Conclusions :
Measuring the retinal thickness by spectral/fourier domain (FD/OCT) is not only demonstrating the histopathological changes in retinitis pigmentosa patients but also specifying the defect at the outer retinal layer and defining the integrity of the 3rd HRB. This will help in precision of surgically implanted retinal prosthesis as a hopeful treatment option to improve their visual function in the near future.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.