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New clinical entity found in high myopes
BOSTON — Researchers have used spectral domain ocular coherence tomography to identify a previously unrecognized etiology of visual impairment in myopia, according to a poster presented here at Academy 2011 Boston.
Richard J. Madonna, OD, and colleagues reported that "Parapapillary retinoschisis (PPRS) appears to be a new clinical entity that is more prevalent in high myopia. PPRS is generally visible on ophthalmoscopy but can be detected with SD-OCT images centered around the optic disc."
Dr. Madonna and colleagues performed a retrospective review of SD-OCTs of 600 eyes, 19 of which exhibited retinoschisis around the optic disc. Seventeen of these eyes had refractive errors ranging from -5 D to -18 D.
The -18-D eye had a 360-degree PPRS that did not extend into the macula, and none of the other 16 eyes had macular retinoschisis. "The schisis was variable in location, most often appeared to exist in more than one layer and was found most frequently in the inner and outer plexiform layers," the researchers reported.
They added that most of the eyes tested had visual field defects that were most frequently an enlargement of the blind spot.
"Scans through the macula will miss the PPRS unless the parapapillary area is included," they concluded.