Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: To correlate Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer (RNFL) defects and macular thickness as measured by Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT3) with visual field in patients with clinical diagnosis of demyelinating optic neuritis. Methods: In this prospective study, patients with acute demyelinating optic neuritis were examined with OCT3. Cross–sectional images of both eyes were obtained measuring the RNFL and macular thickness during the acute episode and one to three months after. The fellow eye was used as control. Visual fields were obtained at the same time. Results: Twenty–two patients were included. Thirteen patients had retrobulbar optic neuritis and nine patients had disc edema. Patients with retrobulbar optic neuritis had thicker RNFL and thicker maculas in the affected eye, however the difference was not significant (p=0.3, p=0.3, respectively). On follow–up, the RNFL thickness of the affected eye showed no change compared with control eye (n=5, p=0.6). Patients with optic nerve edema had significantly thicker RNFL and thicker maculas in the affected eye, however macular thickness was not significantly different (p=0.02, p=0.3, respectively). RNFL thickness did not correlate with visual field mean defect in retrobulbar optic neuritis (r2=0.09), but showed better correlation in patients with disc edema (r2=0.49). Conclusions: As expected, OCT3 clearly shows increased RNFL thickness in patients with acute optic neuritis and disc edema but is unable to detect changes in the retrobulbar form of the disease. Macular thickness does not seem to be affected. RNFL thickness may correlate with visual function in patients with disc edema.
Keywords: nerve fiber layer • neuro–ophthalmology: optic nerve • visual fields