OCT screening recommended in all retinitis pigmentosa patients

This retrospective study found an exceedingly high rate of macular abnormalities in a large cohort of Caucasian retinitis pigementosa (RP) patients.

The authors believe this to be the first study investigating spectral domain OCT-assessed macular abnormalities in a large Caucasian cohort of RP patients. They reviewed the charts of 581 RP patients from the Eye Clinic of the Second University in Naples, Italy.

Macular abnormalities were observed in 43.8% of the 1,161 examined eyes. The most frequent abnormality was cystoid macular edema, observed in 20.4% of eyes, followed by epiretinal membrane, found in 15.6%.

Vitreoretinal abnormalities were significantly associated with older age, cataract surgery or cataract. Cystoid macular edema was significantly associated with female gender, autosomic dominant inheritance pattern and cataract.

They write that since macular abnormalities are more common in RP patients compared to the general population, these findings further support screening RP patients with OCT to help define the natural history of disease and identify patients who could benefit from current or innovative therapeutic strategies. In particular, cystoid macular edema patients should undergo recommended treatments—that is, administration of carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, such as acetazolamide or methazolamide.