Can pattern electroretinography be a relevant diagnostic aid in amblyopia? – A systematic review

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Pattern Electroretinography (PERG) is a highly sensitive electrophysiological technique used as an indicator of changes in retinal macular area. Amblyopia seems to result from a cortical visual imbalance but changes at the retinal level may also be present. The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate if there are any consistent changes described in the scientific literature in PERG responses of amblyopic eyes.

Materials and Methods

Searches were conducted in PubMed and Embase databases, using the keywords “Electroretinography” and “Amblyopia”, combined with MeSH or Emtree terms “Pattern Electroretinography”, “amblyopia”, “PERG” and “amblyopia”. PERG P50-N95 amplitude and P50 latency were analysed as well as the methodology used.

Results

A total of 234 articles were found and 6 articles were included for review. One of the articles reported results in adults and five of them in children. One of the articles in children reported no changes in either P50-N95 amplitude or P50 latency. All articles that described differences between the amblyopic eye and the normal eye found a decrease in P50-N95 amplitude and/or a delay in P50 latency.

Conclusions

This review shows promising findings for the use of PERG in amblyopia as an aid in the diagnostic protocol, since this technique may be able to detect an apparent functional impairment of the amblyopic eye.

KEYWORDS:

• Amblyopia
• pattern electroretinography
• retinal cells
• visual dysfunction

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

AVAILABILITY OF DATA AND MATERIAL

Data available for request.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS

Conception or design of the review, analysis, or interpretation of data: Andresa Fernandes, Nuno Pinto, Maria Vaz Pato.

Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content: Andresa Fernandes, Nuno Pinto, Francisco Miguel Brardo, Maria Vaz Pato.

Final approval of the version to be published: Andresa Fernandes, Nuno Pinto, Ana Rita Tuna, Francisco Miguel Brardo; Maria Vaz Pato.

Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the review in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved: Andresa Fernandes, Nuno Pinto, Ana Rita Tuna, Francisco Miguel Brardo; Maria Vaz Pato.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not received any funding.