[EOG in adult vitelliform macular degeneration, butterfly-shaped pattern dystrophy and Best disease].

OBJECTIVES

We evaluated the EOG in the various stages of foveomacular dystrophy (also called adult-onset vitelliform macular dystrophy) and compared these findings to those in Best's disease and butterfly-shaped dystrophy.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The records of 49 patients (98 eyes) in whom foveomacular dystrophy had been diagnosed by ophthalmoscopy or by fundus photographs and fluorescein angiography were retrospectively reviewed. Fifty-seven eyes were followed up (range 1.1-20 years, mean 10.4 years). EOG was elicited according to the method of Rohde and Täumer. The results were compared to those in Best's disease and butterfly-shaped dystrophy.

RESULTS

In foveomacular dystrophy all mean EOG values were within normal ranges. There was no difference between the various stages of the disease. In Best's disease only the dark-adapted steady-state potential was in the normal range. The amplitude and the implicit time of the light peak were significantly different from those in patients with foveomacular dystrophy (P < 0.05 ANOVA). In butterfly-shaped dystrophy all the EOG parameters were normal. The ratio of the light peak to steady-state potential was significantly lower in foveomacular dystrophy than in butterfly-shaped dystrophy.

CONCLUSION

In foveomacular dystrophy the mean values of the EOG were normal. Despite the morphological similarity we found more pronounced electrophysiological differences from Best's disease than from butterfly-shaped dystrophy.