Optical coherence tomography angiography of optic nerve head and parafovea in multiple sclerosis.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate swept-source optical coherence tomography (OCT) angiography in the optic nerve head (ONH) and parafoveal regions in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).


METHODS
Fifty-two MS eyes and 21 healthy control (HC) eyes were included. There were two MS subgroups: 38 MS eyes without an optic neuritis (ON) history (MS -ON), and 14 MS eyes with an ON history (MS +ON). The OCT images were captured by high-speed 1050 nm swept-source OCT. The ONH flow index (FI) and parafoveal FI were quantified from OCT angiograms.


RESULTS
The mean ONH FI was 0.160 ± 0.010 for the HC group, 0.156 ± 0.017 for the MS-ON group, and 0.140 ± 0.020 for the MS+ON group. The ONH FI of the MS+ON group was reduced by 12.5% compared to HC eyes (p=0.004). A higher percentage of MS+ON eyes had abnormal ONH FI compared to HC patients (43% vs 5%, p=0.01). Mean parafoveal FIs were 0.126 ± 0.007, 0.127 ± 0.010, and 0.129 ± 0.005 for the HC, MS-ON, and MS +ON groups, respectively, and did not differ significantly among them. The coefficient of variation (CV) of intravisit repeatability and intervisit reproducibility were 1.03% and 4.53% for ONH FI, and 1.65% and 3.55% for parafoveal FI.


CONCLUSIONS
Based on OCT angiography, the FI measurement is feasible, highly repeatable and reproducible, and it is suitable for clinical measurement of ONH and parafoveal perfusion. The ONH FI may be useful in detecting damage from ON and quantifying its severity.
Casey Eye Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, P.R. China.
Xiaogang
X
Wang
Casey Eye Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA.
Yali
Y
Jia
Department of Neurology, Portland VA Medical Center, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA.
Rebecca
R
Spain
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Benjamin
B
Potsaid
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Jonathan J
JJ
Liu
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Bernhard
B
Baumann
Pattern Recognition Lab and School of Advanced Optical Technologies (SAOT), University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Joachim
J
Hornegger
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
James G
JG
Fujimoto
Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, P.R. China.
Qiang
Q
Wu
Casey Eye Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA.
David
D
Huang
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography; D005584:Fovea Centralis / Q000098:blood supply*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009898:Optic Disk / Q000098:blood supply*; D009902:Optic Neuritis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012171:Retinal Vessels / Q000502:physiology*; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
Imaging; Optic Nerve; Retina