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High-resolution spectral domain-optical coherence tomography in multiple sclerosis, Part II – the total macular volume. The first follow-up study over 2 years

High-resolution spectral domain-optical coherence tomography in multiple sclerosis, Part II – the total macular volume. The first follow-up study over 2 years
High-resolution spectral domain-optical coherence tomography in multiple sclerosis, Part II – the total macular volume. The first follow-up study over 2 years

BACKGROUND: Recent studies investigating the use of optical coherence tomography (OCT) in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients have resulted in wide-ranging and often contradictory outcomes. This is mainly due to the complex etiology and heterogeneity of MS, physiological variations in the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and/or total macular volume (TMV), and limitations in methodology. It remains to be discovered whether any retinal changes in MS develop continuously or in a stepwise fashion, and whether these changes occur in all or a subset of patients. High-resolution spectral domain-OCT devices (SD-OCT) would be required to detect subtle retinal changes and longitudinal studies would have to be carried out to investigate retinal changes over time. In addition, if the hypothesis is correct, then retinal and global brain tissue changes should be detected in a substantial majority of MS patients and detection should be possible with a high degree of disease activity and/or long disease course.

METHODOLOGY: In order to address the factors above, 37 MS patients (relapsing-remitting, n = 27; secondary progressive, n = 10) were examined prospectively on two occasions with a median interval of 22.4 ± 0.5 months [range 19-27]. SD-OCT was utilized with the Spectralis 3.5 mm circle scan protocol (with locked reference images and eye-tracking mode). None of the patients had optic neuritis 12 months prior to study entry or during the observation period.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The initial TMV pattern differed between study participants, but remained relatively unchanged over the 2-year observation period despite high disease activity or long disease course. The TMV correlated well with the RNFL.

CONCLUSION: The significance of differences in TMV (and RNFL) between study participants remains unclear. Until these differences have been explored further, OCT data in MS patients should be interpreted with caution.

1664-2295
Serbecic, Nermin
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Aboul-Enein, Fahmy
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Beutelspacher, Sven C.
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Khan, Adnan
97374057-d7e7-4849-ac94-c125ba1cc360
Vass, Clemens
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Kristoferitsch, Wolfgang
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Reitner, Andreas
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Schmidt-Erfurth, Ursula
af993078-6680-4d2a-bc50-ebf6abc3857f
Serbecic, Nermin
3f835554-26ca-4133-bf1e-90124e3aeda4
Aboul-Enein, Fahmy
7edea5d3-d0cf-4f54-bcb1-46d18b926b16
Beutelspacher, Sven C.
a63a628a-7872-4dd7-b784-97314d5bc2dd
Khan, Adnan
97374057-d7e7-4849-ac94-c125ba1cc360
Vass, Clemens
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Kristoferitsch, Wolfgang
8feae560-b21b-4718-b9ac-4f993a2f2e9e
Reitner, Andreas
68f2c0a4-58a8-4a9f-9716-b1392e9d3038
Schmidt-Erfurth, Ursula
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Serbecic, Nermin, Aboul-Enein, Fahmy, Beutelspacher, Sven C., Khan, Adnan, Vass, Clemens, Kristoferitsch, Wolfgang, Reitner, Andreas and Schmidt-Erfurth, Ursula (2014) High-resolution spectral domain-optical coherence tomography in multiple sclerosis, Part II – the total macular volume. The first follow-up study over 2 years. Frontiers in Neurology, 5, [20]. (doi:10.3389/fneur.2014.00020).

Record type: Article

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Recent studies investigating the use of optical coherence tomography (OCT) in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients have resulted in wide-ranging and often contradictory outcomes. This is mainly due to the complex etiology and heterogeneity of MS, physiological variations in the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and/or total macular volume (TMV), and limitations in methodology. It remains to be discovered whether any retinal changes in MS develop continuously or in a stepwise fashion, and whether these changes occur in all or a subset of patients. High-resolution spectral domain-OCT devices (SD-OCT) would be required to detect subtle retinal changes and longitudinal studies would have to be carried out to investigate retinal changes over time. In addition, if the hypothesis is correct, then retinal and global brain tissue changes should be detected in a substantial majority of MS patients and detection should be possible with a high degree of disease activity and/or long disease course.

METHODOLOGY: In order to address the factors above, 37 MS patients (relapsing-remitting, n = 27; secondary progressive, n = 10) were examined prospectively on two occasions with a median interval of 22.4 ± 0.5 months [range 19-27]. SD-OCT was utilized with the Spectralis 3.5 mm circle scan protocol (with locked reference images and eye-tracking mode). None of the patients had optic neuritis 12 months prior to study entry or during the observation period.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The initial TMV pattern differed between study participants, but remained relatively unchanged over the 2-year observation period despite high disease activity or long disease course. The TMV correlated well with the RNFL.

CONCLUSION: The significance of differences in TMV (and RNFL) between study participants remains unclear. Until these differences have been explored further, OCT data in MS patients should be interpreted with caution.

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Accepted/In Press date: 7 February 2014
e-pub ahead of print date: 24 February 2014
Published date: 24 February 2014

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 432526
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/432526
ISSN: 1664-2295
PURE UUID: 8dc853fc-918d-4019-a8d8-807556d4403d
ORCID for Adnan Khan: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8153-8002

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Date deposited: 17 Jul 2019 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 04:40

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Contributors

Author: Nermin Serbecic
Author: Fahmy Aboul-Enein
Author: Sven C. Beutelspacher
Author: Adnan Khan ORCID iD
Author: Clemens Vass
Author: Wolfgang Kristoferitsch
Author: Andreas Reitner
Author: Ursula Schmidt-Erfurth

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