Spectral Domain optical coherence tomography findings in patients with retinitis pigmentosa

Background Maculopathy is a common complication of retinitis pigmentosa (RP), and compromise the visual acuity of RP patients even in the less advanced stages. Aim To report the morphological macular findings detected by spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and to determine their prevalence in patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Methods  SD-OCT scans from 100 patients (196 eyes) affected by RP were reviewed. Results We noted a normal macula appearance in 48.5%, macular edema in 14.5% and macular atrophy in 37%. Mean central macular thickness was 167.79 microns and we did not note any statistically significant correlation between visual acuity and foveal thickness. Visual acuity was statistically better in eyes with a larger number of hyper-reflective layers (p<0.001) and in eyes with photoreceptor inner/outer (IS/OS) segment junction distinct (p<0.001). We have identified three types of tomographic macular edema: a cystoids macular edema in 6.8%, a tractional edema in 8.2% and mixed edema in 1%. We identified two tomographic types of macular atrophy: a central- foveal atrophy in 34 eyes (11.6%) and diffuse atrophy in 38 eyes (12.9%). Epiretinal membrane was present in 24 eyes (8.2%). Conclusions The OCT contributes to the analysis of epidemiological and morphological of different macular involvement in RP. OCT has a prognostic value, which essentially depends on the morphology of the IS/OS line and number of hyper-reflective layers.