This article is only available in the PDF format. Download the PDF to view the article, as well as its associated figures and tables.
To the Editor.
—In contrast to Dr. Chatzinoff's experience, I have found that the majority of patients with retinitis pigmentosa want to know if their offspring have the condition and do not maintain secrecy about family histories. They are happy to cooperate for psychophysical and electroretinographic testing. Affected adults ask about their visual prognosis, as well as the prognosis for their children; and in some cases, they request genetic counselling.It is interesting that Dr. Chatzinoff now has one patient under the age of 10 who improved with 11-cis vitamin A therapy, in view of the fact that he reported in the Archives (80:417 [Oct] 1968) that "11-cis vitamin A is not of value in the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa." However, I think that this patient should have an electroretinogram (ERG) to clarify the type of receptor abnormality and to document reversal, or at least, stabilization of ERG responses