Unsedated Corneal Electroretinograms from Children

Abstract

General anesthesia or sedation has often been used for recording corneal electroretinograms (ERG’s) on children. For this reason, testing is sometimes deferred or less accurate recording methods are used. To avoid these problems, routine contact-lens ERG’s were attempted on 40 consecutively referred children (aged 2 months to 6 years) using topical anesthesia only. Mild restraint was occasionally needed, but satisfactory oscilloscopic records were obtained from all children tested. The records were less stable than those from adults, but the response amplitude, the waveform and the timing could always be evaluated, and the cone and rod systems could be clearly differentiated. Thus, ERG’s may be obtained routinely on most children without systemic medication or special techniques.