title: Retinal nerve fiber thickness and MRI white matter abnormalities in healthy relatives of multiple sclerosis patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare retinal nerve fiber (RNFL) thickness and conventional and non-conventional MRI characteristics of healthy controls (HCs) from the general population (non-fHC) to healthy relatives of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients (fHC).
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty-eight (68) HCs underwent optical coherence tomography (OCT) and 3T MRI examination. Subjects were classified based on whether or not there was a family history of MS. The study enrolled 40 non-fHC who had no relatives with MS and 28 fHC with at least one relative affected with MS. The associations between OCT parameters and conventional and non-conventional MRI measures were investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no significant OCT or conventional and non-conventional MRI measureable differences between the non-fHC and fHC groups. Periventricular localization and total volume of white matter (WM) signal abnormalities (SA) were more common in the fHC group but the differences did not reach a level of significance. A significant association between decreased RNFL thickness with increased volume (p=0.001), number (p=0.003) and frequency of ≥ 9 T2 (p=0.003) WM SAs on MRI was found in the fHC group. No association between OCT and MRI parameters was detected in the non-fHC group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is an association between decreased RNFL thickness on OCT and increased WM injury in healthy relatives of MS patients. Further studies should explore the pathophysiology of these findings.
authors: Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center, Department of Neurology, State University of New York, Buffalo, USA; Department of Neurology, Referral Centre for Demyelinating Disease of the Central Nervous System, University Hospital Centre Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia.
authors: Tereza
authors: T
authors: Gabelic
authors: Bianca
authors: B
authors: Weinstock-Guttman
authors: Rebecca
authors: R
authors: Melia
authors: Norah
authors: N
authors: Lincoff
authors: Muhammad W
authors: MW
authors: Masud
authors: Cheryl
authors: C
authors: Kennedy
authors: Vesna
authors: V
authors: Brinar
authors: Deepa P
authors: DP
authors: Ramasamy
authors: Ellen
authors: E
authors: Carl
authors: Niels
authors: N
authors: Bergsland
authors: Murali
authors: M
authors: Ramanathan
authors: Robert
authors: R
authors: Zivadinov
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000473:pathology*; D009902:Optic Neuritis / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D012160:Retina / Q000473:pathology*; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence
keywords: DTI; Healthy relatives of MS patients; MRI; OCT; RIS