Relationship Between Visual Acuity and Foveation Window in Infantile Nystagmus by Analyzing Nystagmus Waveforms

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To report herein on Nystagmus Acuity Estimator Function (NAEF) based on the foveation time, obtained by analyzing waveforms of infantile nystagmus patients and comparing the results with the patients' actual visual acuity. METHODS: Electro-oculographic data of 27 patients with infantile nystagmus were reviewed. Data of patients only with jerk type nystagmus and reliable visual acuity were analyzed. The foveation time was measured, and NAEF was calculated and compared with the patients' actual best corrected visual acuity. RESULTS: A correlation analysis of the patients' best corrected visual acuity with NAEF was performed, and the retrieved coefficient was 0.4266. The p-value calculated using the Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.0282, implying that high NAEF correlates positively with visual acuity. CONCLUSIONS: Estimated visual acuity, calculated based on the waveforms, positively correlates with the patients' actual visual acuity with statistical significance. However, since the foveation time can be measured only in the patients with jerk-type nystagmus waveforms, further study should be performed on the measurement of the foveation time with other waveforms. Furthermore, the present study shows that such analysis is possible with electrooculogram settings in most general hospitals.