Abnormalities of ERG in congenital aniridia

Congenital aniridia is generally associated with nystagmus, corneal pannus, cataract, ectopia lentis, glaucoma, macular hypoplasia, optic nerve hypoplasia and compromised visual function. Many theories have been proposed, including a failure in the development of the neural ectoderm and/or an aberrant development of mesoderm. We observed the ERG from 19 patients with congenital aniridia. Fourteen patients had abnormal ERG, including the reduced a wave trough under dark adapted red stimuli with dark adaptation; abnormal a or/and b waves in dark or/and light adapted ERG or abnormal oscillatory potentials. The ERG abnormalities reflected the disturbances either in the outer retina such as photoreceptors or in the structures of inner retina. The preserved visual function and several ocular abnormalities show that the aniridia may be a consequence of several pathogenetic mechanisms. This fact supported the opinion that congenital aniridia would be a concurrent failure of both ectoderm and mesoderm in embryonate development.