Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 8, 2026
Using Optical Coherence Tomography and Optokinetic Response As Structural and Functional Visual System Readouts in Mice and Rats
Published on: January 10, 2019
Progression of Transsynaptic Retinal Degeneration With Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography
Stephen G Schwartz1, Armando Monroig1, Harry W Flynn1
1Department of Ophthalmology, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL.
Purpose:
To illustrate the progression of retrograde transsynaptic retinal degeneration using spectral- domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT).
Observations:
A 60 year-old man with a stroke was followed over a 17-month period using SD-OCT of the macula, ganglion cell layer (GCC), and retinal nerve fiber layer. Transsynaptic retinal degeneration progressed over this time.
Conclusions And Importance:
Retrograde transsynaptic retinal degeneration may occur in patients with homonymous visual field loss caused by post-geniculate neurologic disease. This is best detected as homonymous thinning of the retina, corresponding to the pattern of visual field loss, using SD-OCT of the GCC and macula. The retinal changes occur at a variable time following the onset of neurologic disease.
