Predicting visual acuity in Bietti crystalline dystrophy: evaluation of image parameters
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 18, 2025
Binocular Dynamic Visual Acuity in Eyeglass-Corrected Myopic Patients
Published on: March 29, 2022
Chu-Yen Huang1,2, Eugene Yu-Chuan Kang1,2, Lung-Kun Yeh1,2
1Department of Ophthalmology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou Medical Center, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
Background:
To analyze multiple imaging modalities in patients with Bietti crystalline dystrophy (BCD) and to investigate which factors from these modalities are associated with best corrected visual acuity (BCVA).
Methods:
In this retrospective study, 40 eyes from 22 patients with BCD were included and were separated into group 1 (BCVA ≤20/200) and group 2 (BCVA > 20/200). Data including BCVA and characteristic findings from near-infrared reflectance (NIR) imaging, fundus autofluorescence (FAF), and spectral domain-optic coherence tomography (SD-OCT) were analyzed and compared. The outcome measures of multimodal imaging were evaluated for correlation with BCVA.
Results:
NIR is a good diagnostic tool for detecting either crystalline or sclerotic vessels in BCD. Patients in group 1 tended to have a thinner choroid (P = 0.047) with ellipsoid zone (EZ) disruption (P = 0.011). Calculation of the area under the curve indicated that EZ disruption detected on SD-OCT could be a good predictor of legal blindness in BCD.
Conclusion:
For the diagnosis of BCD, NIR could be a good diagnostic tool. Of the studied imaging modalities, we found that EZ disruption at the fovea were strongly associated with legal blindness, which could be easily assessed by SD-OCT.
