The Characteristics Of Electroretinogram In Wet Age-related Macular Degeneration

Objective: Electroretinogram（ERG) is a non-invasive examinationand can detect retinal functions. We characterized the latency and amplitudeof a/b waves in wet AMD patients and compared them with normal people.Simultaneously, we observed the correlation between ERG parameters andthe severity of AMD by comparing the latency and amplitude of a/b wavesin different degrees of disease.Methods:18eyes of16cases with wet AMD(AMD group) and14normal control eyes of12people(control group) received examinations ofcorrected visual acuity， slit lamp microscope， ERG and fundusexamination． The AMD group also underwent fundus fluoresceinangiography(FFA), indocyanine green angiography(ICGA）and OpticalCoherence Tomography (OCT). We assessed the integrity of inner/outersegment photoreceptor (IS/OS) and macular edema, classified into3groupsusing OCT. Recorded the ERG parameters of all subjects. The latency andamplitude of a/b waves at dark-adapted3.0and light-adapted3.0wereanalyzed by Spssl7.0.Results: The amplitude of a/b waves were lower and had a significantdifferences at dark-adapted3.0between the AMD and control groups:(Pa =0.002, Pb=0.000), which the same results appeared at light-adapted3.0(Pa=0.000, Pb=0.000). However, the latency of a/b wives didn’t exhibitso big differences except the light-adapted a (Pa=0.000). The others werePa=0.084, Pb=0.054at dark-adapted3.0and Pb=0.059at light-adapted3.0. Comparing the ERG parameters among the three groups of AMD, onlyat light-adapted3.0, that the latency of a wave and the amplitude of b hadsignificant correlation (Pa=0.001, Pb=0.045). There was no significantcorrelation between other ERG parameters: as the amplitude ofdark-adapted a/b (Pa=0.555, Pb=0.291) and light-adapted a (Pa=0.236),or the latency of dark-adapted a/b (Pa=0.432, Pb=0.385) and light-adaptedb (Pb=0.138).Conclusion: The amplitude of a/b wives were significantly lower inwet AMD patients compared with the control group，which suggested theretinal function was seriously damaged. The light adaptation of ERG ismore sensitive in wet AMD, whether it can be used as a classification needto be further studied.