Optical Coherence Tomography Findings in a Cohort of Caucasians With Retinitis Pigmentosa

Abstract

Abstract Background To assess the prevalence of spectral domain-optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) macular findings in patients affected by retinitis pigmentosa (RP), and to compare choroidal and macular structural changes in eyes affected by retinal dystrophies with healthy controls. Observational, retrospective, and cross-sectional study. Three hundred seven patients with RP were consecutively enrolled and underwent clinical assessment. In particular, the SD-OCT images were used to ascertain the morphology of the posterior pole of patients with RP by evaluating the residual ellipsoid zone (EZ), volume and thickness of the outer nuclear layer (ONL), and subfoveal choroid thickness (SCT). At the same time, the pathological findings that reduce the vision of the patients under treatment were analyzed, such as cystoid macular edema (CME), lamellar macular hole (LMH), vitreomacular traction (VMT), epiretinal membranes (ERM), and the presence of full-thickness macular hole (FTMH). Results Four hundred thirty-six eyes of 218 patients with RP were studied. The mean age was 52.17 years (±17.25 SD). The mean of foveal central macular thickness (FCMT) was 270.91 µm (± 74.04 SD). The macular overall area was divided into four sections and for each section thickness and volume were noted. Considering all eyes, 103 had CME (23.62%), whose 37 (16.97% of all patients) were bilateral; 123 (28.21%) of the eyes had VMT and 36 (16.51% of all patients) of them were bilateral; ERM were found in 199 (45.75%) eyes and in 67 (30.73% of all patients) cases were bilateral. There were also found 12 (2.75%) cases of LMH, whose 3 (1.38% of all patients) cases were bilateral. Only 137 eyes (31.42%) didn’t have the alterations described above. SCT was significantly reduced compared to that of the group of control (193.03 µm ± 67.90 SD vs. 295 um ± 69.04 SD); while FCMT was higher (270.91 µm ± 74.04 SD vs. 221 um ± 37,25 SD). Conclusions The causes of the pathologies found are discussed after a careful evaluation of the most recent international scientific bibliography. The structural tests, in addition to the objective, subjective, and psychophysical ones, will be very useful for the monitoring and treatment of patients affected by a serious tapeto-retinal rare hereditary disease, currently the most widespread in the world.