Article Text
Abstract
Two male patients with known systemic disorders who presented with complaints of nyctalopia underwent a complete ophthalmic examination including electrophysiological evaluation and serum vitamin A (retinol) levels. A significant vitamin A deficiency was detected, supplementation started and repeat electroretinogram (ERG) testing was carried out to monitor the timeline of recovery. Restoration of rod and generalised cone function was rapid within the first week of receiving treatment and near normal recovery was seen after 1 month of supplementation. Serial monitoring of ERG changes in vitamin A deficiency (VAD) associated night blindness plays an important role to demonstrate functional recovery post-treatment. The different effects of VAD on rod and cone function, and their rate of recovery, may reflect differences in the visual cycle between the two photoreceptors. We report the serial ERG changes in VAD related night blindness secondary to intestinal lipofuscinosis and liver cirrhosis in two patients.
- gastrointestinal system
- eye
- liver disease
- malabsorption
- retina
Statistics from Altmetric.com
Footnotes
Contributors PBG and CJ contributed to planning, conducting and reporting of the work. SS and SGG contributed to conducting and reporting of the work. All coauthors have agreed to be listed as authors in the work and have agreed to the contributorship statement prepared by the corresponding author. PBG is the guarantor of this manuscript and accepts full responsibility for the finished work and/or the conduct of the study, has access to the data and controls the decision to publish.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Case reports provide a valuable learning resource for the scientific community and can indicate areas of interest for future research. They should not be used in isolation to guide treatment choices or public health policy.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.