Clinical measures of visual function in familial retinitis pigmentosa

Visual function and ocular structures were evaluated in a family with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) by dark adaptometry, electroretinography (ERG), perimetry, and fundus photography. All members examined showed gross rod dysfunction by dark adaptometry and ERG. The inferior and nasal segments of each patient's retina showed denser accumulations of pigment than the other segments. All patients showed superior field losses, the extent of which was correlated with the age and sex of the individual. The clinical impression formed from the assessment of visual fields in this sample was that males are more severely affected than females.