Pattern electroretinogram assessment during ibopamine test in ocular hypertension

To determine the change in pattern electroretinogram (PERG) amplitude during the ibopamine test in patients with ocular hypertension (OHT).

A total of 32 eyes (16 patients) with OHT (8 male, 8 female), mean age 54.19 years (range 22-76 years), mean baseline intraocular pressure (IOP) 23 ± 2 mm Hg, received a PERG assessment in both eyes every 5 minutes from baseline to 60 minutes. All the patients were pretreated by thymoxamine eyedrops to avoid the mydriatic effect of ibopamine. All the data were evaluated by descriptive statistics and paired t test. The results were considered with a significance level of p<0.05.

All the patients enrolled matched the inclusion criteria and they did not have any local or systemic effects with the ibopamine test. The mean PERG amplitude decreased significantly from baseline after 45 minutes during the ibopamine test (paired t test = 0.05). The results were statistically not correlated with the positivity to the ibopamine test (p = 0.5).

These data stress that, even in presence of a moderate and transient IOP increase, inner retinal function of patients with OHT may be transiently affected.