title: Optical coherence tomography does not support optic nerve involvement in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In recent years a possible non-motor involvement of the nervous system in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has come into the focus of research and has been investigated by numerous techniques. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) - with its potential to reveal neuroaxonal retinal damage - may be an appropriate tool to investigate whether the anterior visual pathway is involved. Our aim was to determine whether OCT-based measures of retinal nerve fiber layer, ganglion cell layer, inner nuclear layer and outer nuclear layer thickness are abnormal in ALS, or correlated with disease severity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-six ALS patients (144 eyes) and 54 healthy controls (108 eyes; HCs) were examined with OCT, including automated intraretinal macular segmentation. ALS disease severity was determined with the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale - Revised.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no significant difference between ALS patients and HCs in any of the examined OCT measures. Moreover, OCT parameters showed no correlation with clinical measures of disease severity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings indicate that involvement of the anterior visual pathway is not one of the non-motor manifestations of ALS.
authors.affiliation: NeuroCure Clinical Research Center, Charité Universitaetsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: N M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Roth
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saidha
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zimmermann
authors.forename: A U
authors.initials: AU
authors.lastname: Brandt
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Oberwahrenbrock
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Maragakis
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tumani
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Ludolph
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Calabresi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Paul
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000473:pathology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009900:Optic Nerve / Q000473:pathology*; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000473:pathology; D055351:Retinal Neurons / Q000473:pathology; D055211:Retinal Photoreceptor Cell Inner Segment / Q000473:pathology; D055214:Retinal Photoreceptor Cell Outer Segment / Q000473:pathology; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*
keywords: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; multisystem disorder; optical coherence tomography; retina