Optical coherence tomography identifies outer retina thinning in frontotemporal degeneration

Abstract

FTD is associated with outer retina thinning, and this thinning correlates with disease severity.

Comparison of the Iowa Reference Algorithm to the Heidelberg Spectralis optical coherence tomography segmentation algorithm

“…When comparing thicknesses for particular retinal layers, it is important to consider that the algorithm used could affect the thickness measurements, and it is useful to know absolute value differences. Using Spectralis to compare patients with FTD and controls, we found that our results agree with previous findings that used IRA 3.6 and showed outer retina thinning in patients . The outer retina was thinner in patients than controls by 5.7 μm using Spectralis, which is greater than the difference in outer retina thickness between IRA 3.6 and Spectralis (1.6 μm).…”

“…While the literature shows that advances in segmentation algorithms have emerged every few years, the algorithms we evaluated have been used in recently published cross‐sectional and longitudinal studies, and these algorithms will likely continue to be used for some time . However, it is remarkable that our study found no errors to manually correct with IRA 3.8.…”

“…All patients and controls underwent a dilated eye examination prior to SD‐OCT imaging. We excluded subjects with diabetes and eyes with diseases affecting the macula or optic nerve, high refractive error (±6.0 diopters), significant media opacity, intraocular surgery within 90 days of enrollment, poor image quality, or incomplete image scans . This resulted in a total of 46 eyes from 27 patients and 69 eyes from 44 controls.…”

“…Beyond ophthalmology, there is also potential for SD‐OCT retinal images to provide biomarkers for disease. In particular, multiple studies have noted the potential of SD‐OCT to provide a biomarker for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, and frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) . Studies have also applied SD‐OCT to evaluate retinal thickness associations with cognitive decline, particularly in large data sets .…”

Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor in Patients With Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Its Correlation With Retinal Layer Thicknesses

“…Garcia-Martin et al 23 showed that not only were inner retinal layers reduced in AD, but the outer retinal layers were also impaired. Moreover, Kim et al 24 reported that frontotemporal degeneration is associated with outer retinal thinning, and this thinning correlates with disease severity. Considering these OCT findings of neurodegenerative disorders, one possibility is that the retina is vulnerable to the same neuroinflammatory injury that causes neurodegenerative disease in the brain, and similar mechanisms may play a role in the pathogenesis of AMD and AD, 4,25 in which the serum level of BDNF has been shown to be affected.…”