CORRELATION BETWEEN mfERG RESPONSES AND VISUAL ACUITY IN MACULAR DISEASE

Hull Auditorium

Objective. This study aimed at determining the correlation between retinal electrophysiological responses and visual acuity in subjects with macular diseases. Background. Macular disease and optic neuropathy often have overlapping clinical presentations and both can result in central vision loss. Detection of central retinal dysfunction is valuable in differentiating macular disease from optic neuropathy. Multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG) testing provides topographic mapping of macular function. Investigation of the relationship between mfERG responses and visual acuity in macular disease will help delineate the contribution of retinal dysfunction to visual acuity loss. Methods. Best-corrected visual acuity (BVA) and mfERG responses in twenty subjects with macular diseases were analyzed quantitatively and calculation of the correlations between mfERG response parameters and visual acuity were performed. Results. Central mfERG amplitude attenuation was observed in 75% of subjects. High correlation was found between mfERG response amplitude in the central ring and visual acuity (median 20/50) (r = 0.85). Conclusion. Our findings suggest that mfERG testing is a sensitive tool in detecting central vision loss resulting from retinal dysfunction in macular disease and therefore is valuable in differentiating macular disease from optic neuropathy. Grants. None