Optical coherence tomography does not support optic nerve involvement in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Ophthalmology
• Neurology

Background:

• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) research increasingly focuses on non-motor nervous system involvement.
• Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a technique capable of detecting neuroaxonal damage in the retina.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate anterior visual pathway involvement in ALS using OCT.
• To determine if OCT-based retinal measurements differ between ALS patients and healthy controls.
• To assess the correlation between OCT parameters and ALS disease severity.

Main Methods:

• Seventy-six ALS patients and 54 healthy controls underwent OCT imaging.
• Automated intraretinal macular segmentation was performed using OCT.
• ALS disease severity was assessed using the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale - Revised.

Main Results:

• No significant differences in retinal nerve fiber layer, ganglion cell layer, inner nuclear layer, or outer nuclear layer thickness were found between ALS patients and controls.
• OCT parameters showed no correlation with ALS disease severity.

Conclusions:

• The anterior visual pathway does not appear to be involved in non-motor aspects of ALS.
• OCT is not a suitable tool for detecting non-motor manifestations in the anterior visual pathway of ALS patients.