A Survey study of Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) clinical measures and repeatability testing of potential outcome measures

National Eye Institute

Investigators

Abstract

This study will investigate the nature of photoreceptor dysfunction in RP patients using focal static and kinetic psychophysical tests to develop functional outcome measures for the clinical trial study in RP. Correlation of novel spatial functional maps with other functional measures (such as visual acuity and multifocal ERG) will help provide a full description of functional change. Employing new imaging methods to visualize and analyze structural changes in the retina will allow for the evaluation of structural changes that underlie disease progression. Developing these measures has the potential to advance the field by elucidating the process of photoreceptor degeneration as well as being a scaffold for which candidate therapies could be trialed. Establishing this platform will be the first step in enabling the quantitative evaluation of therapeutic interventions (e.g., neuroinflammatory modulators, transplantation) over time. Synthesizing the clinical understanding of the structural and functional parameters described will form the framework for clinical trials that employ targeted interventions that reduce neuroinflammatory-driven photoreceptor degeneration.