Research: retinal changes correlate with brain activity

Ratchford et al. Active MS is associated with accelerated retinal ganglion cell/inner plexiform layer thinning. Neurology. 2013 Jan ;80:47-54. 

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of clinical and radiologic disease activity on the rate of thinning of the ganglion cell/inner plexiform (GCIP) layer and the retinal nerve fiber layer in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) using optical coherence tomography (OCT). 

METHODS: One hundred sixty-four patients with MS and 59 healthy controls underwent spectral-domain OCT scans every 6 months for a mean follow-up period of 21.1 months. Baseline and annual contrast-enhanced brain MRIs were performed. Patients who developed optic neuritis during follow-up were excluded from analysis. 

RESULTS: Patients with the following features of disease activity during follow-up had faster rates of annualized GCIP thinning: relapses (42% faster, p = 0.007), new gadolinium-enhancing lesions (54% faster, p < 0.001), and new T2 lesions (36% faster, p = 0.02). Annual GCIP thinning was 37% faster in those with disability progression during follow-up, and 43% faster in those with disease duration <5 years vs >5 years (p = 0.003). Annual rates of GCIP thinning were highest in patients exhibiting combinations of new gadolinium-enhancing lesions, new T2 lesions, and disease duration <5 years (70% faster in patients with vs without all 3 characteristics, p < 0.001). 

CONCLUSIONS: MS patients with clinical and/or radiologic nonocular disease activity, particularly early in the disease course, exhibit accelerated GCIP thinning. Our findings suggest that retinal changes in MS reflect global CNS processes, and that OCT-derived GCIP thickness measures may have utility as an outcome measure for assessing neuroprotective agents, particularly in early, active MS.


The eye is a window to the brain and is the most accessible part of the central nervous system. This study shows that in people with active disease in the brain, that was not ocular in nature, can be reflective of nerve cell loss in the retina which then is reflected by retinal thinning. This could be a screening tool, but magnetic resonance imaging is going to be more definitive of brain lesion activity. Although the two are inter linked they are not necessarily dependent on each other and so liable to false positive or negative correlations as the changes in the eye can be intrinsic to effects in the visual system that do not involve brain activity.

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