Different follow-up OCT analyses of traumatic optic neuropathy. A case report

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is established as a promising technology for assessing the optic nerve atrophy progression after trauma. However, reports on the effectiveness and sensitivity of ganglion cell layer (GCL) and Bruch's membrane opening-minimum rim width (BMO-MRW) for studying this damage course over time are still lacking.

A 53-year-old man with severe optic nerve trauma had repeated OCT scans of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), GCL and BMO-MRW during 12 months after the injury. There was gradual damage in all measurements. Interestingly, BMO-MRW was the first analysis affected whilst GCL showed the greatest damage over time.

Our outcomes suggest that OCT might be able to assess axonal loss after traumatic optic neuropathy. BMO-MRW measurement might be more sensitive than other analyses in the first two weeks after trauma and GCL might better monitor belated damage. Thus, it might be possible to combine all these sets of measurements to increase diagnostic sensitivity an specificity.