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Updated: May 30, 2026
Dynamic Visual Tests to Identify and Quantify Visual Damage and Repair Following Demyelination in Optic Neuritis Patients
Published on: April 14, 2014
Retinal atrophy correlates with fMRI response in patients with recovered optic neuritis
D Fuglø1, K Kallenbach, A Tsakiri
1Functional Imaging Unit, Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, Glostrup Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. dan@fuglo.com
Objective:
We wanted to investigate if retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFLT) measured by optical coherence tomography (OCT) might be a good marker of acute and chronic changes in the afferent visual pathway following acute optic neuritis (ON).
Methods:
We studied the relationship of optic nerve lesion length, optic nerve mean area, and RNFLT, quantified by OCT, with fMRI response to a visual paradigm in 40 patients with acute ON and 19 healthy controls in a prospective cohort study over a 6-month period.
Results:
The main finding was a significant correlation of optic nerve lesion length and mean area with fMRI response in affected eyes in the acute phase and between RNFLT and fMRI response in affected eyes after recovery.
Conclusion:
RNFLT is a very good measure of damage to the afferent visual pathway in recovered patients with ON and should be included in future fMRI studies when looking for visual reorganization in recovered patients with ON.
