Optical Coherence Tomographic Analysis of Retina in Retinitis Pigmentosa Patients

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a progressive inherited retinal disease characterized by nyctalopia, visual field constriction, and reduced full-field electroretinograms. The progressive loss of photoreceptors leads to vision loss at the end stage of RP. The prevalence of RP is approximately 1/4,000. Since it is one of the major causes of visual impairment worldwide, morphological and functional assessments are useful for estimating the retinal structure and function in RP. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a well-established method of examining retinal structure in situ, and the obtained images by OCT help to analyze morphological abnormalities. Changes revealed by OCT have provided insights into the pathology of RP as well as for predicting the prognosis of RP. In this review, we present the typical morphological changes in RP and their relationships with visual function in eyes with RP.