Homonymous hemimacular thinning in retrochiasmal lesions

Purpose To evaluate the thickness of macular retina and determine which retinal layers are most affected by retrochiasmal visual pathways lesions. Methods Mean retinal thickness utilizing automated intraretinal layer segmentation of spectral domain optical coherence tomography scans was performed in 40 eyes of 40 patients with retrochiasmal visual pathways lesions and compared with 60 eyes of control subjects.
Multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between retinal thickness and follow‐up, age and gender. Results Ganglion cell and inner plexiform layer was thinner in the temporal hemiretina ipsilateral and in the nasal hemiretina contralateral than in healthy controls. The mean thickness was significantly reduced in lesions over 6 months of duration, with no differences in correlations with age or gender. Conclusions This study demonstrate ganglion cell and inner plexiform thinning in the hemimacular area. These results support the concept that transneuronal retrograde degeneration of the retinal ganglion cells can be detected by OCT in humans with retrochiasmal visual pathways lesions. This homonymous hemimacular thinning in OCT represents an imaging biomarker that can be of valu in diagnosis, prognosis and clinical trials of neuroprotectives therapies.