網膜色素変性症患者の視力予後に関する研究，とくに進行性（長期視力予後）の予測について

Prognostic Factors Concerning Visual Acuity in Retinitis Pigmentosa

緒　言

　網膜色素変性症の予後は，一般に不良であり，視機能の悪化，とくに視力の低下のために社会生活の中途において転職，失職等のやむなきに至ることが多い。

　一方，少数ながら長期にわたり良好な視力が保持される症例もある。したがつて，初診時に長期視力予後の推定が可能であれば，患者の職業の選択や社会生活の指導等にきわめて有効であるといえる。

Fifty-five patients with retinitis pigmentosa were analysed conerning the change in visual acuity over a follow-up period of 10 years or more.

The detrioration in visual acuity progressed slowly while in the range from 1.0 to about 0.5, after which the deterioration seemed to be accelerated. There was no essential difference in the visual acuity deterioration curve betweenthe group of patients in whom the disease was detected before 20 years of age and those in whom the disease occurred later in life.