Evaluation of the Vascular Network with Optical Coherens Tomography Angiography in Multiple Sclerosis and its...

Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCTA) is an examination that is increasingly used in neurodegenerative diseases. This study in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients; It aims to reveal the presence of vascular involvement in the retina and optic nerve and its relationship with disease-related clinical parameters with the help of OCTA.

One eye of 49 MS patients and 28 healthy controls were included in the study. Retinal, optic nerve head (ONH) and foveal vascular measurements were performed using OCTA. In the patient group, 23 people without a history of optic neuritis (ON-) and 26 people with a history of optic neuritis (ON+) were compared among themselves and with the healthy group in terms of retinal and ONH blood supply parameters. Detailed ONH vascular measurements using OCTA in the participants were compared with MS-related clinical data.

In the parameters we examined for ONH vascular evaluation, OCTA measurements were statistically significantly lower in the patient group than in the healthy group. In addition, a similar reduction was noted in some retinal superficial and deep capillary plexus densities. When the ON+ group was compared with the ON- group, there was no significant difference between these two groups; There was a significant decrease in ONH vascular density and some retinal vascular layer densities in the ON+ group compared to the healthy group. In addition, while there was no correlation between EDSS value and CSF findings and OCTA data, it was observed that vascular involvement was significantly higher in the group with higher number of attacks and years of disease, decreased visual acuity, and impaired visual evoked potential (VEP) measurement.

In our study, it was observed that vascular involvement of the ONH was correlated with many disease-related parameters, especially the history of ON.