Incidence of bilateral CFL?

[Thrak]

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Question for anyone who may know...

Aside from being involved in another forum here (Clinical Psych PhD), I'm also a research assistant at an eye research institute. I'm currently working on a study that requires individuals with bilateral central field loss, and I'm using a database of patients from the Department of Veterans Affairs to try to find potential subjects. I'm having next to no luck in finding anyone. Any idea what the expected incidence rate is for the condition? Or where I could find out? Or, contrary to that, is the onset of bilateral CFL usually so early that it would disqualify people from military service?

My background is in social and experimental psych, so if this is an obvious question, I apologize.

If anyone has the answer, or is willing to point me in the right direction, I thank you in advance!

 

[PDT4CNV]

You may be looking at the wrong patients. At the VA, your best bet for patients with bilateral central scotomas is patients with advanced AMD in both eyes.

Finding patients, who, for example, have bilateral field loss of CNS origin such as watershed infarctions of the occipital tip, would be extremely difficult because it is simply not that common.

 

[Wolverine98]

You may be looking at the wrong patients. At the VA, your best bet for patients with bilateral central scotomas is patients with advanced AMD in both eyes.

Finding patients, who, for example, have bilateral field loss of CNS origin such as watershed infarctions of the occipital tip, would be extremely difficult because it is simply not that common.

Then if you want to go even less common you could look at toxic or nutritional causes of vision loss, which tend to hit central vision first.

 

[Thrak]

Thanks to both of you... you've probably saved me countless hours of screening!

 

[orbitsurgMD]

Question for anyone who may know...

Aside from being involved in another forum here (Clinical Psych PhD), I'm also a research assistant at an eye research institute. I'm currently working on a study that requires individuals with bilateral central field loss, and I'm using a database of patients from the Department of Veterans Affairs to try to find potential subjects. I'm having next to no luck in finding anyone. Any idea what the expected incidence rate is for the condition? Or where I could find out? Or, contrary to that, is the onset of bilateral CFL usually so early that it would disqualify people from military service?

My background is in social and experimental psych, so if this is an obvious question, I apologize.

If anyone has the answer, or is willing to point me in the right direction, I thank you in advance!

You might inquire through the rheumatology service. Central field loss is a complication that many patients who are being treated with medications commonly used for systemic autoimmune disease are at least supposed to be monitored to prevent. Usually that is done in conjunction with participating ophthalmologists. Ideally there won't be many of these patients, but there should be a population for which this condition is being watched.

Otherwise, a retinal service with a large age-related macular
degeneration patient population is another place to look.

Diseases causing congenital central vision loss and cortical central vision loss are rare conditions. You aren't likely to find either in a medically qualified group of active duty personnel, although static visual field examination is not performed on military intake examinations; only snellen acuity and rudimentary color vision testing are done.