Clinical and Genetic Characteristics of Korean Congenital Stationary Night Blindness Patients

In this study, we investigated the clinical and genetic characteristics of 19 Korean patients with congenital stationary night blindness (CSNB) at two tertiary hospitals. Clinical evaluations, including fundus photography, spectral-domain optical coherence tomography, and electroretinography, were performed. Genetic analyses were conducted using targeted panel sequencing or whole exome sequencing. The median age was 5 (3-21) years at the initial examination, 2 (1-8) years at symptom onset, and 11 (5-28) years during the final visit. Genetic mutations were identified as CNGB1 and GNAT1 for the Riggs type (n = 2), TRPM1 and NYX for the complete type (n = 3), and CACNA1F (n = 14) for the incomplete type. Ten novel variants were identified, and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and spherical equivalents (SE) were related to each type of CSNB. The Riggs and TRPM1 complete types presented mild myopia and good BCVA without strabismus and nystagmus, whereas the NYX complete and incomplete types showed mixed SE and poor BCVA with strabismus and nystagmus. This is the first case series of Korean patients with CSNB, and further studies with a larger number of subjects should be conducted to correlate the clinical and genetic aspects of CSNB.

Automated summary

This study investigated the clinical and genetic characteristics of 19 Korean patients with congenital stationary night blindness (CSNB) at two tertiary hospitals. Different genetic mutations were found to be associated with different types of CSNB, and 10 novel variants were identified. Further studies with a larger number of subjects are needed to explore the clinical and genetic aspects of CSNB.