Glial proliferation and atrophy: Two poles of optic disc in patients with retinitis pigmentosa

Purpose: to clarify the difference of retinal nerve fiber layer (rnfl) thicknesses between patients with retinitis pigmentosa (rp) and normal subjects. methods: the study included right eyes of 30 patients with non-late-stage rp, which had a waxy pallor in od, attenuation in retinal arterioles, and midperipheral bone spicule pigmentary changes. to compare the rnfl analysis with normal subjects, the right eyes of 30 age- and gendermatched healthy subjects were included as a control group. results: there were no differences between the rp and control groups in terms of demographic and baseline characteristics (p > 0.05, for all). the mean temporal quadrant rnfl thickness was 102.9 ± 31.7 mm (43e222) in the rp group and 72.4 ± 11.8 mm (51e90) in the control group (p < 0.001). the mean nasal quadrant rnfl thickness was 57.6 ± 33.7 mm (21e140) in the rp and 75.0 ± 14.1 mm (56e132) in the control group (p < 0.001). there were no significant rnfl thickness differences between the groups in other sectors and globally (p > 0.05, for all). there was no significant correlation between temporal rnfl thickening and ageing (r ¼ 0.136, p ¼ 0.196) while there was a significant correlation between nasal rnfl thinning and ageing (r ¼ 0.274, p ¼ 0.047). conclusions: rnfl is thicker in temporal quadrants and thinner in nasal quadrants in non-late stage rp. age-related decreases in rnfl thickness occurred earlier in the nasal quadrant and rnfl thickening in the temporal quadrant occurred earlier than this global thinning.