New method for detecting misrouted retinofugal fibers in humans with albinism by magnetoencephalography

In humans with albinism, a large percentage of the ganglion cell axons from the temporal retina decussate abnormally in the chiasm and synapse in the contralateral LGN. The aim of this study was to determine whether the misrouting of the optic fibers can be detected by magnetoencephalography (MEG). Visually evoked magnetic fields (VEFs) were recorded from three patients with albinism. After monocular stimulation, the isofield contour maps of the VEFs showed a single current dipole pattern over the contralateral hemisphere in patients with albinism. These results clearly illustrated the reduced uncrossed retinofugal pathway of patients with albinism.