Optical coherence tomography and optical coherence tomography angiography in multiple sclerosis patients / Nouran Alaa Mahmoud Abdelhamid ; Supervised Adel Hassanein Elsayed Gad , Lobna Ahmed Talaat Elghoneimy , Randa Mohamed Abdelmoneim Elmofty

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Neuropsychiatry

Background: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has developed into a sensitive method for the evaluation of optic nerve and retinal pathology in multiple sclerosis (MS). Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A) is a new method to assess the density of the vascular networks. Vascular abnormalities are considered involved in multiple sclerosis (MS) pathology. They could also play an important role in the pathogenesis of MS lesions and disease progression. Objective: The aim of our study was to assess the presence of vascular abnormalities in MS, to evaluate their correlation to disease features and to detect whether vasculopathy could be part of MS pathogenesis.Our study also aimed at providing a possibility that the retinal vasculature may be a biomarker of neurodegeneration and disease progression. Methods: A total of 30 MS patients with and without history of optic neuritis (ON) and 10 healthy subjects were included. All underwent spectral domain (SD)-OCT and OCT angiography. Clinical history, (EDSS), disease duration, visual function testing and investigations were all collected. Results: A statistically significant reduction in all SD-OCT and OCT angiography parameters was noticed both in eyes with and without ON when compared with control eyes. OCT showed nerve thickness reduction and OCT-A showed a vessel density reduction in eyes of MS patients. We found a direct correlation between SD-OCT parameters and between vessel density parameters (p = < 0.001)

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