Retinal function in patients treated with tamoxifen

Tamoxifen, an effective treatment of breast cancer, has been shown to cause ocular toxic effects. The purpose of this study was to determine retinal toxicity by full-field and focal electroretinograms (ERGs) in patients treated with tamoxifen. Fullfield and focal ERGs were obtained from three groups: Tamoxifen-14 females (47-72 years, mean 58.3 + or - 9.1) with normal fundus, treated with tamoxifen from 2 to 37 months; No Treatment-10 females (39-65 years, mean 50.1 + or - 8.7) with previous breast cancer diagnosis and before tamoxifen treatment; Control-13 normal female volunteers (41-81 years, mean 52.7 + or - 12.1). Peak-to-peak amplitude and b-wave implicit time were measured and statistically analyzed.Mean peak-to-peak amplitudes and implicit time from full-field and focal ERGs were comparable for the three different groups. Low-dosage tamoxifen showed no retinotoxic effect assessed by full-field and focal ERG in this small group of women with breast cancer.