Preoperative electrophysiological characterization of patients with primary macula-involving rhegmatogenous retinal detachment

To determine 1) which components of retinal function are impaired after rhegmatogenous retinal detachment, 2) which outer retinal pathways (rod- or cone-driven) are more severely affected, and 3) whether there is concomitant inner retinal dysfunction.
We conducted a prospective observational study in a large academic institution. We performed preoperative electroretinography on eight patients to assess outer and inner retinal function. In all cases, a comparison between the eye with the detached retina and the control fellow eye was made.
Eyes with a detached retina had significantly lower a-wave and b-wave amplitudes with respect to both rod- and cone-dominated testing parameters (P Patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment have preoperative outer retinal dysfunction equally affecting both rod- and cone-driven pathways, and they have minimal inner retinal dysfunction.