MedGen

Autosomal recessive childhood-onset severe retinal dystrophy is a heterogeneous group of disorders affecting rod and cone photoreceptors simultaneously. The most severe cases are termed Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), whereas the less aggressive forms are usually considered juvenile retinitis pigmentosa (Gu et al., 1997). Various intermediate phenotypes between LCA and retinitis pigmentosa are known and are sometimes described as 'early-onset severe rod-cone dystrophy' or 'early-onset retinal degeneration' (Booij et al., 2005). For a general phenotypic description and a discussion of genetic heterogeneity of Leber congenital amaurosis, see LCA1 (204000); for retinitis pigmentosa, see 268000; for cone-rod dystrophy, see 120970. [from OMIM]

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) refers to a heterogeneous group of inherited ocular diseases that result in a progressive retinal degeneration affecting 1 in 3,000 to 5,000 people (Veltel et al., 2008). Symptoms include night blindness, the development of tunnel vision, and slowly progressive decreased central vision starting at approximately 20 years of age. Upon examination, patients have decreased visual acuity, constricted visual fields, dyschromatopsia (tritanopic; see 190900), and the classic fundus appearance with dark pigmentary clumps in the midperiphery and perivenous areas ('bone spicules'), attenuated retinal vessels, cystoid macular edema, fine pigmented vitreous cells, and waxy optic disc pallor. RP is associated with posterior subcapsular cataracts in 39 to 72% of patients, high myopia, astigmatism, keratoconus, and mild hearing loss in 30% of patients (excluding patients with Usher syndrome; see 276900). Fifty percent of female carriers of X-linked RP have a golden reflex in the posterior pole (summary by Kaiser et al., 2004). Juvenile Retinitis Pigmentosa Autosomal recessive childhood-onset severe retinal dystrophy is a heterogeneous group of disorders affecting rod and cone photoreceptors simultaneously. The most severe cases are termed Leber congenital amaurosis (see 204000), whereas the less aggressive forms are usually considered juvenile retinitis pigmentosa (Gu et al., 1997). Autosomal recessive forms of juvenile retinitis pigmentosa can be caused by mutation in the SPATA7 (609868), LRAT (604863), and TULP1 (602280) genes (see LCA3, 604232, LCA14, 613341, and LCA15, 613843, respectively). An autosomal dominant form of juvenile retinitis pigmentosa (see 604393) is caused by mutation in the AIPL1 gene (604392). [from OMIM]