title: Macular changes of neuromyelitis optica through spectral-domain optical coherence tomography.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the thickness of the retinal layers in the macula using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) in patients with neuromyelitis optica (NMO).
  
  
  METHODS
  Spectralis SD-OCT, utilizing automated macular layer segmentation, was performed in 26 NMO patients and 26 healthy controls. Visual function including visual field tests and pattern visual evoked potential were recorded in study subjects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Forty-one eyes from 26 NMO patients and 52 eyes from 26 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were included. Besides total macular volume, peri-paipillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness, the thickness of macular RNFL, ganglion cell layer (GCL) and inner plexiform layer (IPL) were also significantly reduced in NMO patients compared to those inhealthy controls (P<0.000). No differences were found in the thickness of macular inner nuclear layer (INL), outer plexiform layer (OPL), and outer nuclear layer (ONL) between the two groups. Reversely, the outer retinal layer (ORL) was shown to be thicker in NMO than controls (P<0.05). Compared with the peri-papillary RNFL thickness, the GCL thickness was demonstrated to correlate with visual function better.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study providesin vivoevidence of retinal neural loss in NMO patients and demonstrates a better structure-function correlation between retinal ganglion cell and visual function than peri-papillary RNFL does. In addition, no evidence of primary neural damage is found. Besides, the photoreceptor cells and retinal pigments epithelial (RPE) cells presumably proliferated in compensation in NMO after retinal neural loss.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Shanghai First People's Hospital, Shanghai 20080, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Fundus Disease, Shanghai 20080, China.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Shanghai First People's Hospital, Shanghai 20080, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Fundus Disease, Shanghai 20080, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio 44106, USA.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Shanghai First People's Hospital, Shanghai 20080, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Fundus Disease, Shanghai 20080, China.
authors.forename: Xun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Shanghai First People's Hospital, Shanghai 20080, China.
authors.forename: Zhen-Fen
authors.initials: ZF
authors.lastname: Ling
keywords: ganglion cell loss; macular layer thickness; neuromyelitis optica; optical coherence tomography