Retained visual function in a subset of patients with long-chain 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (LCHADD)

TY - JOUR

T1 - Retained visual function in a subset of patients with long-chain 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (LCHADD)

AU - Dulz, Simon

AU - Atiskova, Yevgeniya

AU - Engel, Peter

AU - Wildner, Jan

AU - Tsiakas, Konstantinos

AU - Santer, Rene

PY - 2021/2

Y1 - 2021/2

N2 - Introduction: LCHADD causes retinopathy associated with low vision, visual field defects, nyctalopia and myopia. We report a retrospective long-term single-center study of 6 LCHADD patients trying to clarify if early diagnosis has an impact on the course and outcome of chorioretinal degeneration. Methods: Long-term follow-up of visual acuity and staging of chorioretinal degeneration by fundus photography, optical coherence tomography (OCT) and autofluorescence (AF) in all six patients. Three patients (2 m/1 f; age 8-14.8 years) were diagnosed by newborn screening, a single patient early within the first year of life and treated promptly while the other two (1 m/1 f; age 23-24 years) were diagnosed later after developing symptoms. All carried HADHA variants; five were homozygous for the common p.E510Q variant, in one from the symptomatically diagnosed group p.[E510Q]; [R291*] was detected. Results: All patients showed retinal alterations, but early diagnosis was associated with a milder phenotype and a longer preservation of visual function. Among symptomatic patients, only one showed mild retinal involvement at the time of diagnosis. Conclusion: Despite the small number our study suggests that early diagnosis does not prevent retinopathy but might contribute to a milder phenotype with retained good visual acuity over time. OCT and AF are reliable non-invasive diagnostic tools to estimate the progression of early-stage retinal changes in LCHADD patients.

AB - Introduction: LCHADD causes retinopathy associated with low vision, visual field defects, nyctalopia and myopia. We report a retrospective long-term single-center study of 6 LCHADD patients trying to clarify if early diagnosis has an impact on the course and outcome of chorioretinal degeneration. Methods: Long-term follow-up of visual acuity and staging of chorioretinal degeneration by fundus photography, optical coherence tomography (OCT) and autofluorescence (AF) in all six patients. Three patients (2 m/1 f; age 8-14.8 years) were diagnosed by newborn screening, a single patient early within the first year of life and treated promptly while the other two (1 m/1 f; age 23-24 years) were diagnosed later after developing symptoms. All carried HADHA variants; five were homozygous for the common p.E510Q variant, in one from the symptomatically diagnosed group p.[E510Q]; [R291*] was detected. Results: All patients showed retinal alterations, but early diagnosis was associated with a milder phenotype and a longer preservation of visual function. Among symptomatic patients, only one showed mild retinal involvement at the time of diagnosis. Conclusion: Despite the small number our study suggests that early diagnosis does not prevent retinopathy but might contribute to a milder phenotype with retained good visual acuity over time. OCT and AF are reliable non-invasive diagnostic tools to estimate the progression of early-stage retinal changes in LCHADD patients.

U2 - 10.1080/13816810.2020.1836658

DO - 10.1080/13816810.2020.1836658

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 33107778

VL - 42

SP - 23

EP - 27

JO - OPHTHALMIC GENET

JF - OPHTHALMIC GENET

SN - 1381-6810

IS - 1

ER -