Abstract
Purpose :
Although optical coherence tomography is widely available to determine outer retinal architecture, it may be an insensitive biomarker when measuring subtle changes in advanced stages of retinitis pigmentosa (RP) patients. The aim of this study is to determine whether microperimetric parameters and autofluorescence imaging could correlate with disease severity in patients with RP.
Methods :
This was a cross-sectional analysis conducted over 39 eyes of 39 RP patients. The associations between visual acuity (VA) with other microperimetric measures, including fixation stability, mean retinal sensitivity, number of points that tested normal, and deep scotoma count were measured. Fundus autofluorescence imaging (FAF) was used for morphological assessment in the macular area.
Results :
The mean patient age was 48.03±15.52 years, mean logMAR VA of all eyes was 0.79±0.70, and mean retinal sensitivity was 11.04±8.58dB. Increase of logMAR VA was associated with lower mean retinal sensitivity, worse fixation stability at circular regions within 2° and 4° diameters, and increasing number of deep scotoma count at inner and outer ring around the central fovea. In the multivariate analysis, including logMAR VA and other microperimetric parameters, mean retinal sensitivity and deep scotoma counts at parafoveal inner ring were the only predictive parameters statistically associated with worse visual acuity. In patients with four or more deep scotoma points at parafoveal inner ring (n=17, 43.6%), their FAF pattern tended to have a foveal hyperautofluorescence patch or central hypoautofluorescence atrophy, an indicator of poor VA.
Conclusions :
Our findings suggest that the use of FAF imaging and microperimetry, with mean retinal sensitivity and number of deep scotoma counts at inner ring of parafovea in particular, may provide a thorough assessment upon predicting visual acuity in retinitis pigmentosa patients.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.