P 417 Night blindness due to chronic pancreatitis: Vitamin A deficiency despite oral pancreatic enzyme therapy

B Confirming the diagnosis of night blindness in our patient, the scotopic response in his electroretinogram (ERG) was distinctly reduced while the photopic response was normal. When his blood was examined for a low level of vitamin A as a possible cause for night blindness, we found the value to be reduced below normal (17 pg/dl versus 25-70 pg/dl in normal subjects). Treatment with vitamin A supplement resulted in prompt normalization of vitamin A level (79 pg/dl after two weeks). Symptoms completely disappeared, and the scotopic response in the ERG rehuned to normal.