TY - JOUR
T1 - Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in multiple sclerosis with and without optic neuritis
T2 - a four-year follow-up study from Oman
AU - Al-Mujaini, Abdullah S.
AU - Al-Mujaini, Maiysa S.
AU - Sabt, Buthaina I.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease that attacks the central nervous system, with optic neuritis (ON) being a common early manifestation. Retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness may be a biomarker of neuroaxonal damage in MS patients. We sought to evaluate changes in RNFL thickness over 4 years in Omani MS patients with or without ON in comparison to a healthy control group. Methods: This retrospective case-control study involved 27 MS patients and 25 healthy controls. Optical coherence tomography was performed upon first diagnosis and at a four-year follow-up. Differences in mean RNFL thickness were calculated. Results: A total of 51 eyes from the MS group and 50 eyes from the control group were evaluated. There was a significant reduction in mean RNFL thickness among MS patients with ON at follow-up (81.21 versus 72.14 μm; P =.003), whereas no significant RNFL thinning was observed among MS patients without ON. However, there was a significant reduction in RNFL thickness among MS patients compared to healthy controls (76.79 versus 93.72 μm; P =.009), regardless of ON presence/absence. Conclusions: Axonal damage was seen in the optic nerves of Omani MS patients. Moreover, there was a significant reduction in RNFL thickness among MS patients with ON as the disease progressed; however, while there was evidence of RNFL thinning in MS patients without ON, this difference lacked statistical significance. Evaluation of RNFL thickness may represent a useful biomarker for monitoring disease progression in MS and its association with ON.
AB - Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease that attacks the central nervous system, with optic neuritis (ON) being a common early manifestation. Retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness may be a biomarker of neuroaxonal damage in MS patients. We sought to evaluate changes in RNFL thickness over 4 years in Omani MS patients with or without ON in comparison to a healthy control group. Methods: This retrospective case-control study involved 27 MS patients and 25 healthy controls. Optical coherence tomography was performed upon first diagnosis and at a four-year follow-up. Differences in mean RNFL thickness were calculated. Results: A total of 51 eyes from the MS group and 50 eyes from the control group were evaluated. There was a significant reduction in mean RNFL thickness among MS patients with ON at follow-up (81.21 versus 72.14 μm; P =.003), whereas no significant RNFL thinning was observed among MS patients without ON. However, there was a significant reduction in RNFL thickness among MS patients compared to healthy controls (76.79 versus 93.72 μm; P =.009), regardless of ON presence/absence. Conclusions: Axonal damage was seen in the optic nerves of Omani MS patients. Moreover, there was a significant reduction in RNFL thickness among MS patients with ON as the disease progressed; however, while there was evidence of RNFL thinning in MS patients without ON, this difference lacked statistical significance. Evaluation of RNFL thickness may represent a useful biomarker for monitoring disease progression in MS and its association with ON.
KW - Multiple sclerosis
KW - Optic neuritis
KW - Optical coherence tomography
KW - Retinal nerve Fiber layer
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U2 - 10.1186/s12886-021-02158-0
DO - 10.1186/s12886-021-02158-0
M3 - Article
C2 - 34772371
AN - SCOPUS:85118996311
SN - 1471-2415
VL - 21
JO - BMC Ophthalmology
JF - BMC Ophthalmology
IS - 1
M1 - 391
ER -