Abstract:  Objective To investigate the characteristics of cytomegalovirus retinitis (CMVR) and to characterize the risk factors for visual acuity loss in the patients with AIDS. Design Retrospective case series. Participants 71 AIDS patients (99 eyes) with active cytomegalovirus retinitis. Methods All 71 patients were evaluated with ophthalmic examination, including the visual acuity, introcular pressure, slip-light, and fundus phtography, HIV test and CD4+ cells count were examed as well. The clinical characteristics were analyzed. Main Outcome Measures Visual acuity, CD4+T lymphocyte counts, ocular fundus changes. Results In 71 patients, 54 cases (76%) of CD4+T cells is ≤50 cells/μl, 7 cases (10%) of CD4+T cells > 50~100 cells/μl, 10 cases (14%) of CD4+T cells >100 cells/μl. In 49 eyes whose best corrected visual acuity were less than 0.3, the retinal necrosises in 34 cases (70%) involved the posterior pole. The visual acuity in 24% eyes was 0.05 or less at the end of following time. The posterior pole retinal necrosis involved macula (including optic atrophy ) in 9 eyes, 6 eyes (25%) complicated cataract, in which 4 eyes were panuveitis with cataract, 2 eyes were retinal detachment with cataract. Conclusion CD4+T lymphocyte count reduction is the risk factor for CMVR clinically. The posterior poleretinal necrosis is the main reason of vision loss. 

Key words: text-indent: 0px, display: inline !important, font: medium Simsun, white-space: normal, float: none, letter-spacing: normal, color: rgb(0,0,0), word-spacing: 0px, -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">AIDStext-indent: 0px, font: medium Simsun, white-space: normal, letter-spacing: normal, color: rgb(0,0,0), word-spacing: 0px, -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px" class="x-5-">; text-indent: 0px, display: inline !important, font: medium Simsun, white-space: normal, float: none, letter-spacing: normal, color: rgb(0,0,0), word-spacing: 0px, -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">cytomegalovirus retinitis, clinical manifestation, vision impairment, risk factor