Retinal Damage in Multiple Sclerosis Disease Subtypes Measured by High-Resolution Optical Coherence Tomography

Abstract

Background. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has facilitated characterisation of retinal alterations in MS patients. Only scarce and in part conflicting data exists on different MS subtypes. Objective. To analyse patterns of retinal changes in different subtypes of MS with latest spectral-domain technology. Methods. In a three-centre cross-sectional study 414 MS patients and 94 healthy controls underwent spectral-domain OCT examination. Results. Eyes of MS patients without a previous optic neuritis showed a significant reduction of both retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) thickness and total macular volume (TMV) compared to healthy controls independent of the MS subtype (P < 0.001 for all subtypes). RNFL thickness was lower in secondary progressive MS (SPMS) eyes compared to relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) eyes (P = 0.007), and TMV was reduced in SPMS and primary progressive MS (PPMS) eyes compared to RRMS eyes (SPMS: P = 0.039, PPMS: P = 0.005). Independent of the subtype a more pronounced RNFL thinning and TMV reduction were found in eyes with a previous optic neuritis compared to unaffected eyes. Conclusion. Analysis of this large-scale cross-sectional dataset of MS patients studied with spectral-domain OCT confirmed and allows to generalize previous findings. Furthermore it carves out distinct patterns in different MS subtypes.

Evaluation of Choroidal Vascular Changes in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis Using Enhanced Depth Imaging Optical Coherence Tomography

“…Reduced RNFL thickness in the absence of ON suggests possible subclinical episodes of ON or chronic axonal loss separate from acute attacks as a result of retrograde transsynaptic degeneration of retinal ganglion cells and their axons [18,19]. We also confirmed the results of previous studies that indicate a tendency of RNFL atrophy to be greater in ON-affected eyes than in unaffected eyes [20,21,22]. Previous studies reported that RNFL thickness was correlated with functional and structural measures of MS such as visual acuity, visual field, low-contrast letter acuity, contrast sensitivity, color vision, visual evoked potentials, brain atrophy assessed by magnetic resonance imaging and even quality of life [16,23,24,25,26].…”

Retinal thickness measured with optical coherence tomography and risk of disability worsening in multiple sclerosis: a cohort study

“…Studies using spectral-domain OCT have so far revealed that the retina in eyes without previous optic neuritis (non-ON eyes) shows thinner pRNFL and retinal ganglion cell layer thickness in most of the patients compared to healthy controls, and this was observed in all MS phenotypes including benign MS [4][5][6] . All of these OCT parameters have been associated with MS disability 7,8 and brain atrophy 7,9 and for this reason its application offers the promise of being used as an imaging surrogate of the MS disease course.…”

Optic radiation damage in multiple sclerosis is associated with visual dysfunction and retinal thinning – an ultrahigh-field MR pilot study

“…In addition, retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) thinning detectable by optical coherence tomography (OCT) [14][15][16], delayed visually evoked potentials (VEP) [17], and visual dysfunction [16,18] also in MS patients without a history of ON may indicate subclinical damage to the visual system.…”