Mobility Testing and Other Performance-Based Assessments of Functional Vision in Patients with Inherited Retinal Disease

In the field of clinical ophthalmology, many of the common visual function study end points do not effectively reflect the significant morbidity of inherited retinal diseases (IRDs) and its effect on the patient's quality of life. In the last decade, emphasis has been placed on the development and implementation of patient-performance or task-focused end points, that may have greater ability to demonstrate the improvement or preservation of the patient's quality of life provided by therapeutic interventions. This article reviews performance-based tools developed to assess functional vision, such as the multi-luminance mobility test (MLMT) or the functional low-vision observer-rated assessment (FLORA), and highlights some of the recent advancements used in clinical development for IRD or ocular interventional therapies.