Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 11, 2026
Dynamic Visual Tests to Identify and Quantify Visual Damage and Repair Following Demyelination in Optic Neuritis Patients
Published on: April 14, 2014
Diffusion-weighted imaging helps differentiate multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica-related acute optic
Hailin Wan1, Huijin He1, Fang Zhang2
1Department of Radiology, Shanghai Pudong Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Purpose:
To evaluate the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values between multiple sclerosis (MS) and neuromyelitis optica (NMO)-related acute optic neuritis (ON) patients and predict their optic nerve atrophy of optic coherence tomography (OCT) parameters.
Materials And Methods:
Nineteen MS and 15 NMO-related acute ON patients who underwent a diffusion-weighted imaging sequence in 3.0 Tesla MR scanner and a follow-up OCT examination after 6 months were included. The ADC values, thickness of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and the macular ganglion cell complex (GCC) between MS and NMO related ON were assessed.
Results:
The mean ADC value of the NMO-ON, (0.691 ± 0.195[SD]) × 10-3 mm2 /s, was significantly smaller (P = 0.0133) than that of MS-ON. The mean ADC value of MS-ON, (0.879 ± 0.144) × 10-3 mm2 /s, was significantly smaller (P < 0.0001) than that of control group, (1.025 ± 0.067) × 10-3 mm2 /s. Using an ADC value smaller than 0.830 × 10-3 mm2 /s as the threshold value for differentiating MS-ON from NMO-ON patients, the highest accuracy of 76.7%, with 75.0% sensitivity and 78.3% specificity, was obtained. The ADC value measured at the acute stage of ON was correlated with the thickness of the RNFL (r = 0.441; P = 0.006) and the GCC (r = 0.526; P < 0.0001) after 6 months.
Conclusion:
The ADC value might be helpful for differentiating MS-ON from NMO-ON patients. The decreased ADC value was correlated with optic nerve atrophy on OCT.
Level Of Evidence:
3 Technical Efficacy: Stage 2 J. MAGN. RESON. IMAGING 2017;45:1780-1785.
