title: Intraretinal hyperreflective foci on spectral-domain optical coherence tomographic images of patients with retinitis pigmentosa.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The purpose of this study was to observe the characteristic findings of spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) images in the retinas of patients with retinitis pigmentosa and to evaluate their distribution patterns in the early and advanced stages of the disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 184 patients (368 eyes) with retinitis pigmentosa were observed using SD-OCT. We studied the presence or absence of continuous inner/outer segment (IS/OS) lines, presence of thinning of the retinal pigment epithelium-Bruch's membrane complex, and distribution patterns of hyperreflective foci in the inner and outer nuclear layers (INL and ONL).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The IS/OS junction had partially disappeared in 275 eyes, which were at the early stage of retinitis pigmentosa (group X), whereas the junction had totally disappeared in 93, which were at the advanced stage of retinitis pigmentosa (group Y). Hyperreflective foci in the INL were observed in a significantly larger proportion of the eyes in group X than in group Y (90% versus 61%, P<0.001), but hyperreflective foci in the ONL were observed in a significantly larger proportion of eyes in group Y than in group X (100% versus 69%, P<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hyperreflective foci in the INL were more frequently observed in retinas with the early stage of retinitis pigmentosa and hyperreflective foci in the ONL were more frequently observed in the advanced stage. Hyperreflective foci may be indicative of changes in the retinal structure at each stage of retinitis pigmentosa.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital, Kobe, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Masako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kuroda
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital, Kobe, Kyoto, Japan ; Department of Ophthalmology, Institute of Biomedical Research and Innovation Hospital, Kobe, Kyoto, Japan ; Laboratory for Retinal Regeneration, RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, Kobe, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasuhiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hirami
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hata
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital, Kobe, Kyoto, Japan ; Department of Ophthalmology, Institute of Biomedical Research and Innovation Hospital, Kobe, Kyoto, Japan ; Laboratory for Retinal Regeneration, RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, Kobe, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Michiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mandai
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital, Kobe, Kyoto, Japan ; Department of Ophthalmology, Institute of Biomedical Research and Innovation Hospital, Kobe, Kyoto, Japan ; Laboratory for Retinal Regeneration, RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, Kobe, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Masayo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital, Kobe, Kyoto, Japan ; Department of Ophthalmology, Institute of Biomedical Research and Innovation Hospital, Kobe, Kyoto, Japan ; Laboratory for Retinal Regeneration, RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, Kobe, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kurimoto
keywords: hyperreflective foci; retinitis pigmentosa; spectral-domain optical coherence tomography