New ophthalmic features in a family with triple A syndrome

Abstract

We report three subjects of a Greek family affected by triple A syndrome (AAAS). All patients underwent complete ophthalmic examination, full-field electroretinogram (ERG), visual evoked responses (VER), optical coherence tomography (OCT) and molecular analysis of the AAA gene. All patients had alacrima. In two of them, the proband and her brother, bilateral optic atrophy was assessed and the VER were pathological. In contrast, the ERG was normal. OCT showed a decrease of the retinal nerve fiber layer. The third case had only alacrima and the optic nerves were normal. The molecular genetic study of the AAAS gene revealed a homozygous missense mutation p.Ala167Val. To our knowledge this is the first time a family with AAAS has been investigated using OCT, VER and ERG. Our findings illustrate that the retina is not involved. There is also an interfamilial variability concerning the involvement of the optic nerves.