Optical Coherence Tomography - A New Monitoring Tool for Multiple Sclerosis?

Abstract

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a simple office-based measure that can be used to quantify changes in the retina in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Such retinal changes in some MS patient subgroups, as assessed by OCT, are associated with brain atrophy as detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). There is also some evidence that changes detected by OCT are correlated with increasing levels of cognitive impairment. OCT in MS patients introduces a new tool to characterise the disease process and could prove beneficial in the assessment of new therapies. It may provide information additional to that produced by MRI. For example, the use of OCT to quantify the retinal nerve fibre layer may offer some advantages by detecting neural degeneration in the MS disease process more quickly, cheaply and specifically than MRI. The latest OCT equipment and software offer high reproducibility and improve accuracy due to eye-tracking and followup scan capabilities.

Early Diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis Using Swept-Source Optical Coherence Tomography and Convolutional Neural Networks Trained with Data Augmentation

“…The usefulness of OCT as a noninvasive tool in the diagnosis and follow-up of MS is increasingly accepted by researchers. Some researchers even suggest that its usefulness is similar to that of magnetic resonance imaging, as it allows in vivo visualization of the state of neurodegeneration at the axonal level and can be repeated as many times as necessary as it is a completely innocuous technique that does not irradiate the patient’s brain and does not cause any discomfort, except for that induced by looking at a fixed point for a few seconds [ 80 , 81 ].…”

Phenome- and genome-wide analyses of retinal optical coherence tomography images identify links between ocular and systemic health

“…Similarly, the association between thinner inner retinal layers and epilepsy has also been corroborated in previous small studies ( 60 , 61 ). Retinal OCT assessment has the potential to determine the presence and severity of atrophic cerebral changes previously only diagnosed and monitored using MRI brain scanning ( 62 ). OCT offers important advantages over MRI in terms of availability, patient acceptability, clinical resource allocation, and the capability to precisely quantify neuronal tissue loss.…”

“…OCT offers important advantages over MRI in terms of availability, patient acceptability, clinical resource allocation, and the capability to precisely quantify neuronal tissue loss. Retinal OCT, in addition to known clinical and imaging factors, may facilitate the diagnosis of MS earlier than reliance on MRI alone ( 62 ) and may allow more patients to benefit from reduced secondary disability and improved life expectancy with the timely initiation of disease-modifying treatments ( 63 ).…”

Optical Coherence Tomography: Basic Concepts and Applications in Neuroscience Research

“…Establishing OCT-derived retinal data as a regular diagnostic gold standard of neurodegenerative diseases in hospitals and clinics is still a challenge. Most of the OCT studies in this regard targeted a single parameter [ 91 ]. More extensive and multiparametric longitudinal cohort studies are required in larger patient groups.…”