title: Relationships among multifocal electroretinogram amplitude, visual field sensitivity, and SD-OCT receptor layer thicknesses in patients with retinitis pigmentosa.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare local functional measures, the multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG) and visual field sensitivity, with a local structural measure, spectral domain (SD) optical coherence tomography (OCT), of receptor damage in patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP).
  
  
  METHODS
  MfERGs, visual fields, and SD-OCT scans were obtained from 10 patients with RP, ranging in age from 23 to 59 years. Average amplitudes, average linear sensitivities, and average layer thicknesses were measured from within the central 3° and from three concentric annuli located between 3° and 8°, 8° and 15°, and 15° and 24°. A computer program aided manual segmentation and calculated OCT thickness in the scans.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Within each patient with RP, mfERG amplitude for each circle/annulus was highly correlated with corresponding layer thicknesses in the outer retina (r = 0.88 to 0.99), but not at all correlated with thickness of the inner nuclear layer or total retina. Across all ring eccentricities, relative mfERG amplitude and relative visual field sensitivity were correlated with relative SD-OCT outer retinal thickness.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In patients with RP, preserved cone photoreceptor function measured by mfERG amplitude and visual field sensitivity correlate well with the remaining thickness of the photoreceptor layer. All three measures show comparable relative loss beyond 3° eccentricity. In the fovea, SD-OCT outer retina thickness showed less relative loss than either mfERG or visual field sensitivity.
authors.affiliation: Retina Foundation of the Southwest, Dallas, Texas, USA. ywen@retinafoundation.org
authors.forename: Yuquan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: Donald C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Hood
authors.forename: David G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Birch
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004596:Electroretinography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020419:Photoreceptor Cells, Vertebrate / Q000502:physiology*; D012174:Retinitis Pigmentosa / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*; D058609:Visual Field Tests; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult