A collaborative retrospective study, between the University of Tuebingen, Germany and the University of New South Wales, Australia, has shown that patterns of early stage symptoms in a variety of retinal dystrophy cases may provide clinical clues for differential diagnosis. The research, published in Ophthalmologica, the journal of the European Society of Retina Specialists, examined and reported on the records of 544 patients with inherited retinal dystrophies at the University Eye Hospital in Tuebingen. The lead authors of the study, Dr. med. Elena Prokofyeva and Prof. Dr. med. Eberhart Zrenner, suggest that an improved understanding of symptomatic patterns from the point of disease onset should help identify retinal dystrophy patients who might benefit from early intervention.