Abstract
Purpose :
The significance of peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness variations in patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is inconsistent. We performed a retrospective medical record review to investigate whether thickening or thinning of the RNFL in eyes of patients with RP correlated with indications of macular atrophy via spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and ocular examination.
Methods :
The medical records of 30 eyes from 15 patients with retinitis pigmentosa who are currently enrolled in the University of Florida Health Eye Center database were reviewed. All patients had complete ocular evaluations combined with SD-OCT of both the optic nerve and macula. We analyzed changes to best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), central retinal thickness (CRT), total macular volume (TMV), ellipsoid zone (EZ), and peripapillary RNFL thickness. Data processing was completed using MS excel. The relationship between predictors and outcome variables were assessed using Pearson linear correlation on statistical software SAS.
Results :
A total of 15 patients (11 females, 4 males) were included with mean age = 44.7 ±16.4 years (range, 17-68 years). CRT was significantly correlated with RNFL thickness of the temporal quadrant (r = -0.41686, p = 0.0219) and EZ foveal sparing (r = - 0.47375, p = 0.0082). Additionally, we found significant correlations between BCVA vs. EZ foveal sparing (r= 0.56157, p = 0.0012) and CME vs. ERM (r= 0.43301, p= 0.0168).
Conclusions :
The results of our study suggested a possible association between peripapillary RNFL quadrant thickness and central retinal thickness in patients with retinitis pigmentosa. CRT is associated with foveal EZ and temporal thickness of peripapillary RNFL. The eyes with foveal EZ reserved had thicker CRT and thinner temporal peripapillary RNFL. The eyes with damaged EZ under fovea had thinner CRT and thicker temporal peripapillary RNFL due to possible glial cells proliferation. The thickness of temporal peripapillary RNFL can serve as a marker for progressive macular atrophy in patients with retinitis pigmentosa.
This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.