[Electroretinography in regmatogenic retinal detachment in the myopic eye]

The investigation studied the topographic features of retinal electrogenesis in regmatogenic retinal detachment (RRD) in the myopic eye, by using multifocal electroretinography (mfERG). Both eyes from 12 patients were used to analyze the amplitude and latency of the first negative and positive mfERG first-order kernel components averaged over the entire stimulation area, by rings, quadrants of vision fields and in the areas of the adjacent and detached retina. The myopic eye in RRD even without macular involvement showed a selective reduction in R1 amplitude when central retinal rings 1 and 2 were stimulated, which suggests that the macular region is highly sensitive to the impaired anatomic integrity of the adjoining retinal zones. Longer latency of mfERG N1 is most typical of the stimulation of the retinal macular region in recent RRD, and that is characteristic of the near and middle retinal periphery in a 1-2-month history of RRD, which may be indicative of the progression of impairments in the rod system. The reduction in P1 amplitude is most pronounced in a 1-2-month history of RRD. The findings suggest that a 1-month history is critical in the development of specific functional changes in the detached retina and mainly in its mid-periphery and support a need for early (less than 4-week) surgical treatment for retinal detachment particularly in the eyes of patients with myopic changes in the eye grounds. The authors show it advisable to widely use a preliminary test protocol in poor unilateral gaze fixation (19 hexagons), which causes an increase in recording purity and, therefore, promotes the reliability of the findings.