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Updated: Apr 18, 2026
Dynamic Visual Tests to Identify and Quantify Visual Damage and Repair Following Demyelination in Optic Neuritis Patients
Published on: April 14, 2014
Optic Neuritis and the Visual Pathway: Evaluation of Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum by Resting-State fMRI and
Fernanda Cristina Rueda Lopes1, Soniza Vieira Alves-Leon2, Jose Mauricio Godoy3
1Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Radiology, Rua Presidente João Pessoa, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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.
