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Optical coherence tomography does not support optic nerve involvement in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Author(s) -
Roth N. M.,
Saidha S.,
Zimmermann H.,
Brandt A. U.,
Oberwahrenbrock T.,
Maragakis N. J.,
Tumani H.,
Ludolph A. C.,
Meyer T.,
Calabresi P. A.,
Paul F.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
european journal of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.881
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1468-1331
pISSN - 1351-5101
DOI - 10.1111/ene.12146
Subject(s) - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , nerve fiber layer , medicine , optical coherence tomography , retinal , ophthalmology , ganglion cell layer , outer nuclear layer , ganglion , multiple sclerosis , optic nerve , retina , disease , neuroscience , pathology , anatomy , psychology , psychiatry
Background and purpose 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 A myotrophic L ateral S clerosis F unctional R ating S cale – R evised. 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 .