Low-frequency damped electroretinographic wavelets in young asymptomatic patients with dominant retinitis pigmentosa: a new electroretinographic finding.

Abstract

To describe a previously unreported electroretinographic (ERG) pattern in early retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Two case reports. Two unrelated young asymptomatic patients with autosomal-dominant retinitis pigmentosa were studied. Clinical findings and ERG responses were assessed. No ERG responses were detected scotopically with low-luminance stimuli. With increasingly brighter stimuli, a series of three to five low-frequency damped wavelets developed under both scotopic and photopic conditions. The period of the wavelets was 25 to 37 msec. Low-frequency damped ERG wavelets occur in some young asymptomatic patients with autosomal-dominant RP. The ERG pattern suggests that these wavelets are predominantly cone-generated.