Flicker electroretinography findings in patients with unilateral non-infectious retinal vasculitis using Diopsys® NOVA device

Abstract

Purpose : Diopsys® NOVA is a modified electroretinography (ERG) device that can perform full-field flicker ERG testing simply and rapidly. We conducted a case-control study to determine the alterations in Diopsys® flicker ERG parameters (both fixed-luminance and multi-luminance testing) in patients with non-infectious retinal vasculitis (RV)

Methods : Medical records of patients who were diagnosed with unilateral non-infectious RV and underwent Diopsys® flicker ERG testing from December 2017 to August 2022 were reviewed. RV was diagnosed based on wide-angle fluorescein angiography (WAFA) by one of the investigators (QDN) Angiography Scoring for Uveitis Working Group (ASUWOG) score was utilized to grade the severity of RV in affected eyes by two uveitis specialists (SWP and YUS). Fellow eye of each patient which did not show the presence of retinal vasculitis was used as the control group. The Diopsys® flicker ERG parameters, including magnitude, phase, magnitude variance ratio, and phase variance ratio for fixed-luminance ERG, and magnitude, phase, magnitude area ratio, and phase area ratio for multi-luminance ERG were collected and compared between the eyes with RV (Group 1) and the fellow eyes without RV (Group 2).

Results : A total of 34 eyes of 17 patients (6 males and 11 females) were included. The mean age was 36.9 ± 22.0 (range, 18-55) years. The mean ASUWOG score was 11.7±5.8 (range, 9-24) in eyes with RV. Visual acuity (Log MAR 0.07 ± 0.11 vs. 0.04 ± 0.09, p=0.186) and central subfield thickness (297.5 ± 102.0 μm vs. 265.5 ± 42.1 μm, p=0.084) did not differ between two groups. In fixed-luminance testing, both magnitude (12.22 ± 4.79 vs. 13.60 ± 4.45, p=0.033) and phase (306.47 ± 26.80 vs. 326.58 ± 23.29, p=0.003) parameters significantly decreased in eyes with RV compared to control group. In multi-luminance testing, only phase (166.15 ± 17.09 vs. 178.19 ± 14.30, p=0.001) parameter significantly reduced in eyes with RV. Remaining parameters did not show significant difference between the groups.

Conclusions : The phase and magnitude parameters of fixed-luminance testing and the phase parameter of multi-luminance testing appeared to be significantly affected in eyes with RV. Diopsys® flicker ERG may be considered as an additional tool in the assessment and monitoring of patients with non-infectious RV

This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.