Abstract
Purpose :
Optic neuritis is a common presentation of multiple sclerosis (MS). A slow and progressive loss of retinal ganglion cells also happens in eyes that have not had optic neuritis. The purpose of the study was to measure retinal oxygen metabolism in patients with MS.
Methods :
Retinal oximetry was performed with a non-invasive spectrophotometric oximeter, Oxymap T1 (Oxymap ehf). Sixteen eyes from eight MS patients with history of optic neuritis in one or both eyes were measured and compared to 20 healthy individuals.
Results :
Venular oxygen saturation was increased in MS patients compared to healthy individuals (70.7±3.4% vs. 66.2±4.7; p=0.021, mean±SD). The arteriovenous difference was also lower in MS patients compared to healthy (26.6±3.6% vs. 30.5±4.8%; p=0.049). There was no difference measured in arterioles when patients with MS (97.3±1.7%) and healthy individuals (96.7±2.8%) were compared.
Conclusions :
Increased venular oxygen saturation and lower arteriovenous difference in MS indicate decreased oxygen uptake. This may be due to less oxygen demand following atrophy.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.