Abstract
Purpose :
Inherited retinal dystrophies are a group of rare blinding conditions for which there is currently no approved drug treatment.The aim of the present work was to assess the safety and the feasibility of subthreshold diode micropulse laser (SDML) at two different wavelengths (yellow and green) for different retinal dystrophies.
Methods :
The records of all participants treated with two types of SDMLs (577nm and 520nm) for different types of retinal dystrophy were reviewed. The eligibility included macula-involving retinal dystrophy by spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) and pretreatment visual acuity of 20/40 or better.
Results :
We included 22 eyes from 11 patients aged 35 to 72 years (mean, 45 years). Postoperative follow-up ranged from one month to six months (mean, three months). The treatment was performed for retinitis pigmentosa, X-linked retinoschisis, Leber congenital amaurosis, rod-cone dystrophy in six, two, one, two patients, respectively.
Preoperative visual acuity was 20/20 (8 eyes), 20/25 (6 eyes), 20/30 (4 eyes) and 20/40 (2 eyes). No difficulties emerged during treatment despite the patients' limited ability to maintain visual fixation. No eye had evidence of laser induced macular damage by any means of postoperative imaging. There were no adverse effects of the treatment. The logarithm of minimal angle of resolution of visual acuity was improved by a mean of 0.03 units at 1-month to 4-month follow-up (P = 0.0449, paired t-test) and otherwise stable. In patients with lipofuscin material accumulation, macular thickness improved at one month to three months (P = 0.05, paired t-test) after SDML treatment (P = 0.04, mixed model accounting). Macular atrophy was stable by any means of postoperative imaging during the follow-up period.
Conclusions :
In our study, SDML was safe and effective for the treatment of macula-involving retinal dystrophy in eyes with good preoperative visual acuity. Further studies are desiderable.
This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.