A prospective study of visual acuity (VA) was performed in a cohort of
147 AIDS patients with cytomegalovirus retinitis (CMVR), Patients wer
e treated according to standard regimes, and corrected VA was recorded
at regular intervals from presentation until death, Follow-up was 6 w
eeks to 5 years (mean 30 weeks), Fifty patients (34%) had bilateral CM
VR at initial presentation; at death 81 patients (55%) had bilateral d
isease, Thirty-one eyes initially uninfected developed CMVR during fol
low-up, Of 228 infected eyes, VA at presentation was 6/12 or better in
182 eyes (80%) and 6/60 or better in 215 eyes (94%) At death, VA was
6/12 or better in 112 eyes (49%) and 6/60 or better in 171 eyes (75%),
VA in the better eye at death was 6/12 or better in 113 of 147 patien
ts (77%), 6/24 or better in 135 patients (92%) and worse than 6/60 in
only 7 patients (5%), Treatment of AIDS-related CMVR minimises loss of
vision and may protect previously uninfected eyes, prolonging visual
independence.