title: Relationships between retinal axonal and neuronal measures and global central nervous system pathology in multiple sclerosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the relationships between conventional and segmentation-derived optical coherence tomography (OCT) retinal layer thickness measures with intracranial volume (a surrogate of head size) and brain substructure volumes in multiple sclerosis (MS).
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 84 patients with MS and 24 healthy control subjects.
  
  
  METHODS
  High-definition spectral-domain OCT conventional and automated segmentation-derived discrete retinal layer thicknesses and 3-T magnetic resonance imaging brain substructure volumes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer as well as composite ganglion cell layer+inner plexiform layer thicknesses in the eyes of patients with MS without a history of optic neuritis were associated with cortical gray matter (P=.01 and P=.04, respectively) and caudate (P=.04 and P=.03, respectively) volumes. Inner nuclear layer thickness, also in eyes without a history of optic neuritis, was associated with fluid-attenuated inversion recovery lesion volume (P=.007) and inversely associated with normal-appearing white matter volume (P=.005) in relapsing-remitting MS. As intracranial volume was found to be related with several of the OCT measures in patients with MS and healthy control subjects and is already known to be associated with brain substructure volumes, all OCT-brain substructure relationships were adjusted for intracranial volume. CONCLUSIONS Retinal measures reflect global central nervous system pathology in multiple sclerosis, with thicknesses of discrete retinal layers each appearing to be associated with distinct central nervous system processes. Moreover, OCT measures appear to correlate with intracranial volume in patients with MS and healthy control subjects, an important unexpected factor unaccounted for in prior studies examining the relationships between peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and brain substructure volumes.
authors: Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. shivsaidha@physicians.ie
authors: Shiv
authors: S
authors: Saidha
authors: Elias S
authors: ES
authors: Sotirchos
authors: Jiwon
authors: J
authors: Oh
authors: Stephanie B
authors: SB
authors: Syc
authors: Michaela A
authors: MA
authors: Seigo
authors: Navid
authors: N
authors: Shiee
authors: Chistopher
authors: C
authors: Eckstein
authors: Mary K
authors: MK
authors: Durbin
authors: Jonathan D
authors: JD
authors: Oakley
authors: Scott A
authors: SA
authors: Meyer
authors: Teresa C
authors: TC
authors: Frohman
authors: Scott
authors: S
authors: Newsome
authors: John N
authors: JN
authors: Ratchford
authors: Laura J
authors: LJ
authors: Balcer
authors: Dzung L
authors: DL
authors: Pham
authors: Ciprian M
authors: CM
authors: Crainiceanu
authors: Elliot M
authors: EM
authors: Frohman
authors: Daniel S
authors: DS
authors: Reich
authors: Peter A
authors: PA
authors: Calabresi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001369:Axons / Q000473:pathology*; D002421:Caudate Nucleus / Q000473:pathology; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000473:pathology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000473:pathology*; D012160:Retina / Q000473:pathology; D055351:Retinal Neurons / Q000473:pathology*; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods