CORRELATION BETWEEN GOLDMANN PERIMETRY AND MAXIMAL ELECTRORETINOGRAM RESPONSE IN RETINITIS-PIGMENTOSA

To evaluate the relationship between Goldmann perimetry and maximal el ectroretinographic responses in patients with retinitis pigmentosa, an alyses were performed on 220 affected subjects and separately on two s ubgroups with autosomal dominant (n = 35) and autosomal recessive (n = 29) inheritance. Electroretinograms were recorded averaging 100 itera tions elicited with a 20-lux/s, 0.5-Hz white flash ganzfeld stimulatio n. The peripheral isopters of the visual fields were delimited with I4 e; IIIe and V4e targets, measured on conventional perimetry charts wit h a light pen and expressed in square centimeters. Unlike most previou sly published reports, this investigation showed a definite correlatio n (p = 0.0001) between maximal electroretinographic response amplitude and visual field areas. This correlation was more evident for I4e and IIIe isopters (r = 0.89 and 0.87, respectively) than for V4e ;isopter (r = 0.69). This phenomenon appears to be related to distortion occur ring on standard isometric charts and to spatial summation effects in the peripheral field. Such correlations held for both the autosomal do minant and autosomal recessive subgroups. It appears that, if enough a ccuracy is provided maximal electroretinographic responses and Goldman n visual fields are both good measures of the remaining functioning re tina in nonsyndromic retinitis pigmentosa, irrespective of inheritance models and dystrophic patterns.