title: Optical coherence tomography in the diagnosis and monitoring of cystoid macular edema in patients with retinitis pigmentosa.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify cystoid macular edema (CME) in patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) using optical coherence tomography (OCT) and to evaluate response to acetazolamide by serial OCT.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-nine consecutive RP patients were included in the study. Patients with CME were treated with acetazolamide (125 or 250 mg/d for 4-12 months). OCT, fluorescein angiography, and determination of best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) were performed initially and throughout the follow-up period.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ten of the 29 patients had CME by OCT. Of these 10 patients, 5 had various degrees of fluorescein leakage by fluorescein angiography. After acetazolamide treatment, six patients had significant decreases in macular edema in at least one eye by follow-up OCT. In six patients, visual acuity improved by > or =1 line in at least one eye. The change of central foveal thickness shown by OCT was significantly correlated with the change of logMAR of BCVA (Pearson correlation coefficient [r] = 0.576; P = 0.008). We observed no differences in the change of central foveal thickness by OCT (Mann-Whitney test; P = 1.000) and in the change of logMAR of BCVA (Mann-Whitney test; P = 0.106) between patients treated with 125 mg/d acetazolamide and those treated with 250 mg/d acetazolamide.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results indicate that OCT is a valuable tool in the detection and follow-up of CME in RP patients. Treatment with acetazolamide resulted in marked improvement in OCT-diagnosed CME in RP, but visual improvement was variable.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan, College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyewon
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Jong-Uk
authors.initials: JU
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: June-Gone
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Young Hee
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Yoon
mesh_terms: D000086:Acetazolamide / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002257:Carbonic Anhydrase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005584:Fovea Centralis / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008269:Macular Edema / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012174:Retinitis Pigmentosa / Q000150:complications*; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*; D014792:Visual Acuity
chemical_list: D002257:Carbonic Anhydrase Inhibitors; D000086:Acetazolamide