Optic Neuritis and the Visual Pathway: Evaluation of Neuromyelitis … – PubMed – NCBI.

Optic Neuritis and the Visual Pathway: Evaluation of Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum by Resting-State fMRI and Diffusion Tensor MRI.

Lopes FC¹, Alves-Leon SV, Godoy JM, de Souza Batista Scherpenhuijzen S, Fezer L, Gasparetto EL.

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¹Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Radiology, Rua Presidente João Pessoa, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:

Optic neuritis (ON) is an acute episode of inflammation in the visual pathway (VP). It may occur as part of a demyelinating disease, which can affect white matter (WM) throughout the VP. Compensatory cortical adaptations may occur following WM damage to maintain visual integrity. Our aim was to investigate whether resting-state functional MRI (rsfMRI) can detect cortical adaptations following ON attacks and to correlate rsfMRI with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) of WM within the VP.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Neuromyelitis optica spectrum patients were compared to healthy controls at least 6 months after ON onset. DTI and rsfMRI were performed and post-processed using FSL tools (TBSS for DTI and MELODIC for fMRI).

RESULTS:

Ptients had higher synchronization values than controls in the visual network (3.48 vs. 2.12, P < .05). A weak trend of correlation was revealed between fMRI and structural analysis by DTI using fractional anisotropy (right side: R = -.36, P < .08; left side: R = .075, P < .73).

CONCLUSIONS:

The rsfMRI detected cortical reorganization following ON attack, but WM was considerably preserved in the posterior VP.

KEYWORDS:

MRI; Neuromyelitis optica; diffusion tensor imaging; neuritis optica; resting-state functional

PMID:: 25588974; [PubMed – as supplied by publisher]

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Optic Neuritis and the Visual Pathway: Evaluation of Neuromyelitis … – PubMed – NCBI