Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in multiple sclerosis with and without optic neuritis: a four-year follow-up study from Oman

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BMC ophthalmology 2021-11, Vol.21 (1), p.1-391, Article 391
Main Authors: Al-Mujaini, Abdullah S, Al-Mujaini, Maiysa S, Sabt, Buthaina I
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Autoimmune diseases
Biomarkers
Central nervous system
Development and progression
Disease
Hospitals
Medical records
Medical research
Medicine, Experimental
Multiple sclerosis
Neuritis
Ophthalmology
Optic neuritis
Optical coherence tomography
Retina
Retinal nerve Fiber layer
Thinning
Variance analysis
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Summary: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 [mu]m; 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 [mu]m; 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. Keywords: Optic neuritis, Multiple sclerosis, Retinal nerve Fiber layer, Optical coherence tomography
ISSN:1471-2415
1471-2415
DOI:10.1186/s12886-021-02158-0