Clinical expression of X-linked retinitis pigmentosa in a Swedish family with the RP2 genotype.

PURPOSE

To examine the clinical phenotype with emphasis on electroretinograms and visual fields in a Swedish family with X-linked retinitis pigmentosa (XLRP) type 2 (RP2), and compare it with Swedish XLRP families with the RP3 genotype.

METHODS

Three affected brothers and their carrier mother were examined clinically and with kinetic perimetry, dark adaptation thresholds, and full-field electroretinograms. The genotype was determined by haplotype analysis using polymorphic markers spanning the XLRP loci at the short arm of the X chromosome.

RESULTS

The phenotype was consistent in the three affected males. The first subjective symptom was night blindness and the visual disability was more pronounced with increasing age. Affected individuals had a slight decrease in visual acuity and were emmetropic. They demonstrated a pathologically elevated final rod threshold. The visual fields were constricted in a somewhat atypical pattern. The three patients had an early presenting atypical cataract with multiple opacities. The fundus appearance was typical for RP with narrowing of retinal vessels and bone spicule pigmentations. The rod electroretinograms were extinguished in both eyes of the patients. The combined rod-cone responses as well as the isolated cone responses were severely reduced in amplitude; however, atypically for RP, the implicit time for the isolated cone responses was normal. The carrier female demonstrated normal ophthalmological findings, with the exception of two minimal pigmentations in the lower quadrants of the left eye. Haplotype analysis demonstrated that the disease in this family segregates with the RP2 locus.

CONCLUSION

The phenotype of the studied RP2 family is associated with early onset of night blindness, emmetropia, a slight decrease in visual acuity, constriction of visual fields, and atypical cataract formation. Electroretinograms demonstrate severe rod dysfunction and surprisingly normal cone response implicit times which may indicate a milder disease progression. These findings are different from earlier descriptions of the RP2 and RP3 phenotypes.