Neuromyelitis optica and multiple sclerosis: Seeing differences through optical coherence tomography

J L Bennett; J de Seze; M Lana-Peixoto; J Palace; A Waldman; S Schippling; S Tenembaum; B Banwell; B Greenberg; M Levy; K Fujihara; K H Chan; H J Kim; N Asgari; D K Sato; A Saiz; J Wuerfel; H Zimmermann; A Green; P Villoslada; F Paul; GJCF-ICC&BR

doi:10.1177/1352458514567216

Neuromyelitis optica and multiple sclerosis: Seeing differences through optical coherence tomography

Mult Scler. 2015 May;21(6):678-88. doi: 10.1177/1352458514567216. Epub 2015 Feb 6.

Authors

J L Bennett¹, J de Seze², M Lana-Peixoto³, J Palace⁴, A Waldman⁵, S Schippling⁶, S Tenembaum⁷, B Banwell⁵, B Greenberg⁸, M Levy⁹, K Fujihara¹⁰, K H Chan¹¹, H J Kim¹², N Asgari¹³, D K Sato¹⁴, A Saiz¹⁵, J Wuerfel¹⁶, H Zimmermann¹⁷, A Green¹⁸, P Villoslada¹⁵, F Paul¹⁹; GJCF-ICC&BR

Affiliations

¹ Departments of Neurology and Ophthalmology, University of Colorado, Denver, Colorado, USA.
² Neurology Service, University Hospital of Strasbourg, France.
³ CIEM MS Research Center, University of Minas Gerais Medical School, Belo Horizonte Brazil.
⁴ Department of Neurology, Oxford University Hospitals National Health Service Trust, Oxford, UK.
⁵ Division of Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, USA.
⁶ Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research Section, Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zürich, Switzerland.
⁷ Department of Neurology, National Pediatric Hospital Dr Juan P. Garrahan, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
⁸ Departments of Neurology & Neurotherapeutics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Texas, USA.
⁹ Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland USA.
¹⁰ Department of Multiple Sclerosis Therapeutics, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
¹¹ University Department of Medicine, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
¹² Research Institute and Hospital of National Cancer Center Goyang Republic of Korea.
¹³ Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Southern Denmark, and Department of Neurology, Vejle Hospital, Odense, Denmark.
¹⁴ Department of Neurology, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
¹⁵ Center of Neuroimmunology, Service of Neurology, Hospital Clinic and Institute of Biomedical Research August Pi Sunyer, Barcelona, Spain.
¹⁶ NeuroCure Clinical Research Center, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, and Institute of Interventional and Diagnostic Neuroradiology, University Medicine Göttingen, Germany.
¹⁷ NeuroCure Clinical Research Center, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.
¹⁸ Multiple Sclerosis Center, UCSF Department of Neurology and Neuro-ophthalmology Service, UCSF Department of Ophthalmology, San Francisco, USA.
¹⁹ NeuroCure Clinical Research and Department of Neurology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Experimental and Clinical Research Center, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany friedemann.paul@charite.de.

Abstract

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease of the central nervous system that preferentially targets the optic nerves and spinal cord. The clinical presentation may suggest multiple sclerosis (MS), but a highly specific serum autoantibody against the astrocytic water channel aquaporin-4 present in up to 80% of NMO patients enables distinction from MS. Optic neuritis may occur in either condition resulting in neuro-anatomical retinal changes. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has become a useful tool for analyzing retinal damage both in MS and NMO. Numerous studies showed that optic neuritis in NMO typically results in more severe retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and ganglion cell layer thinning and more frequent development of microcystic macular edema than in MS. Furthermore, while patients' RNFL thinning also occurs in the absence of optic neuritis in MS, subclinical damage seems to be rare in NMO. Thus, OCT might be useful in differentiating NMO from MS and serve as an outcome parameter in clinical studies.

Keywords: Neuromyelitis optica; ganglion cell layer; multiple sclerosis; optic neuritis; optical coherence tomography; retinal nerve fiber layer.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Humans
Multiple Sclerosis / diagnosis*
Neuromyelitis Optica / diagnosis*
Optic Neuritis / diagnosis*
Retinal Neurons / ultrastructure*
Tomography, Optical Coherence / methods*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding