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Optic Neuritis and the Visual Pathway: Evaluation of Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum by Resting‐State fMRI and Diffusion Tensor MRI
Author(s) -
Lopes Fernanda Cristina Rueda,
AlvesLeon Soniza Vieira,
Godoy Jose Mauricio,
Souza Batista Scherpenhuijzen Simone,
Fezer Leticia,
Gasparetto Emerson Leandro
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of neuroimaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1552-6569
pISSN - 1051-2284
DOI - 10.1111/jon.12191
Subject(s) - medicine , optic neuritis , resting state fmri , white matter , fractional anisotropy , diffusion mri , neuromyelitis optica , neuroscience , multiple sclerosis , ophthalmology , audiology , magnetic resonance imaging , psychology , radiology , psychiatry
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Optic neuritis (ON) is an acute episode of inflammation in the visual pathway (VP). It may occur as part of a demyelinating disease, which can affect white matter (WM) throughout the VP. Compensatory cortical adaptations may occur following WM damage to maintain visual integrity. Our aim was to investigate whether resting‐state functional MRI (rsfMRI) can detect cortical adaptations following ON attacks and to correlate rsfMRI with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) of WM within the VP. MATERIALS AND METHODS Neuromyelitis optica spectrum patients were compared to healthy controls at least 6 months after ON onset. DTI and rsfMRI were performed and post‐processed using FSL tools (TBSS for DTI and MELODIC for fMRI). RESULTS Ptients had higher synchronization values than controls in the visual network (3.48 vs. 2.12, P < .05). A weak trend of correlation was revealed between fMRI and structural analysis by DTI using fractional anisotropy (right side: R = −.36, P < .08; left side: R = .075, P < .73). CONCLUSIONS The rsfMRI detected cortical reorganization following ON attack, but WM was considerably preserved in the posterior VP.