Document Detail


Discrimination of spatial displacements by patients with retinitis pigmentosa.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  9666975     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
We compared maximum displacement thresholds (Dmax) with minimum displacement thresholds (Dmin) in patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) in order to characterize the nature of their visual disability, as well as to assess possible models of foveal vision loss. Thresholds for discriminating the direction of the spatial displacement of random dot patterns were measured in a group of 20 patients with typical RP or Usher syndrome whose visual acuities were 20/40 or better and who had minimal or no clinical evidence of changes in the ocular media. Findings were compared with those from an age-similar group of 15 visually normal subjects. Displacement thresholds were measured using a two-frame random dot cinematogram and a four-alternative forced-choice procedure. Measurements were made at each of three dot contrasts and three dot sizes. For the patients with RP, reducing either the dot contrast or dot size increased Dmin and decreased Dmax such that the range of discriminable displacements became considerably restricted, even at modest reductions in dot contrast or size. This restriction in the displacement thresholds of the patients with RP was correlated significantly with their visual acuity. By comparison, the control subjects showed little change in either Dmin or Dmax under these conditions. These results indicate that patients with RP who have only relatively minor reductions in their visual acuity can have severely compromised motion perception. The pattern of findings suggests that an abnormal contrast response of the foveal cone system is a major determinant of the impaired displacement thresholds of these patients with RP.
Authors:
K R Alexander; D J Derlacki; W Xie; G A Fishman; J P Szlyk
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Vision research     Volume:  38     ISSN:  0042-6989     ISO Abbreviation:  Vision Res.     Publication Date:  1998 Apr 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  1998-07-27     Completed Date:  1998-07-27     Revised Date:  2007-11-14    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  0417402     Medline TA:  Vision Res     Country:  ENGLAND    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  1171-81     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine 60612, USA. kennalex@uic.edu
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Adult
Contrast Sensitivity
Female
Fovea Centralis / physiology
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Pattern Recognition, Visual / physiology
Retinitis Pigmentosa / physiopathology*
Sensory Thresholds
Space Perception / physiology*
Visual Acuity
Grant Support
ID/Acronym/Agency:
EY01792/EY/NEI NIH HHS; EY08301/EY/NEI NIH HHS

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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