Optimization and Validation of a Virtual Reality Orientation and Mobility Test for Inherited Retinal Degenerations.

Purpose: To optimize a virtual reality (VR) orientation and mobility (O&M) test of functional vision in patients with inherited retinal degenerations (IRDs).

Methods: We developed an O&M test using commercially available VR hardware and custom-generated software. Normally sighted subjects (n = 20, ages = 14-67 years) and patients with IRDs (n = 29, ages = 15-63 years) participated.

A Virtual Reality Orientation and Mobility Test for Inherited Retinal Degenerations: Testing a Proof-of-Concept After Gene Therapy.

Purpose: To test the ability of a virtual reality (VR) orientation and mobility (O&M) protocol to serve a measure of functional vision for patients with inherited retinal degenerations (IRDs).

Methods: A VR-O&M protocol designed using a commercially available VR hardware was tested in normally sighted control subjects (n=7; ages 10-35yo; Average 22.5yo) and patients with -associated Leber Congenital Amaurosis (n=3; ages 7-18yo; Average 12.

Clinical Perspective: Treating RPE65-Associated Retinal Dystrophy.

Until recently, there was no approved treatment for a retinal degenerative disease. Subretinal injection of a recombinant adeno-associated virus (AAV) delivering the normal copy of the human RPE65 cDNA led to reversal of blindness first in animal models and then in humans. This led to the first US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved gene therapy product for a genetic disease, voretigene neparvovec-rzyl (Luxturna).