Retinal function in patients with serpiginous choroiditis: a microperimetry study.

Abstract

PURPOSE:

To investigate fixation pattern and retinal sensitivity in patients with serpiginous choroiditis (SC).

METHODS:

Twenty-eight eyes (14 patients) with SC were evaluated. Best-corrected visual acuity, color fundus photography, fundus autofluorescence, and fluorescein and indocyanine green angiography were performed. Microperimetry was used to assess fixation pattern and retinal sensitivity.

RESULTS:

Of 28 eyes, 16 (57%) had central, one (4%) poor central, and 11 (39%) eccentric fixation; and 18 (64%) had stable, four (14%) relatively unstable, and six (21%) unstable fixation. In patients with posterior pole symmetrically involved in both eyes, the better eye had stable and central fixation in all cases. Atrophic lesions were characterized by a dense scotoma in all cases, with a relative scotoma at their margins in ten eyes (38%). In two cases of active disease, a dense scotoma correlated to an active lesion could be detected. A relative scotoma was documented in areas not involved by the disease at the posterior pole in eight eyes (28%), and in the peripapillary area in 11 eyes (39%).

CONCLUSIONS:

Quantification of retinal sensitivity and fixation pattern by microperimetry offers new data about the impact of visual impairment in patients with SC. A reduction of retinal sensitivity in an apparently healthy area suggests a wider functional involvement of the retina, undetectable by morphologic evaluation alone.

• Authors: Elisabetta Pilotto, Stela Vujosevic, Vuga Ana Grgic, Patrik Sportiello, Enrica Convento, Antonio Giovanni Secchi, Edoardo Midena
• Journal: Graefe's archive for clinical and experimental ophthalmology = Albrecht von Graefes Archiv fur klinische und experimentelle Ophthalmologie (Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol) Vol. 248 Issue 9 Pg. 1331-7 (Sep 2010) ISSN: 1435-702X [Electronic] Germany
• PMID: 20464557 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Coloring Agents
• Indocyanine Green

Topics

• Choroiditis (diagnosis, physiopathology)
• Coloring Agents
• Fixation, Ocular (physiology)
• Fluorescein Angiography
• Humans
• Indocyanine Green
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Retina (physiopathology)
• Scotoma (diagnosis, physiopathology)
• Visual Acuity (physiology)
• Visual Field Tests