OCT used to Monitor Multiple Sclerosis Progression

Hemel Hempstead, UK – OCT is being showcased on the National Multiple Sclerosis Society website after being used in trials to monitor multiple sclerosis and track the effects of therapies.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) can be described as an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body.

Growing evidence has suggested that Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) eye exam findings can mirror MS-inflicted damage that occurs in the brain. However, it has not been clear how or whether thinning of the nerve at the back of the eye reflects brain shrinkage (atrophy) and nerve degeneration overall or in specific areas of the brain.

A four-year study* confirms that imaging the eye with OCT provides a “window” to MS progression in the brain: A recently published paper by a collaborative team used advanced OCT and MRI brain scans of 107 people with MS over four years to track the development of MS and to determine whether changes in nerve layers at the back of the eye mirror changes in MRI-detected brain tissue integrity and degeneration.

The team reported that OCT findings reliably reflected overall brain degeneration, with a specific layer of the retina showing shrinkage at similar rates as specific brain regions seen with MRI. These similar rates of atrophy were more strongly associated in progressive MS for most areas of the brain.

For further information on SPECTRALIS OCT please visit: www.HeidelbergEngineering.com.

To view the articles on the National Multiple Sclerosis Society website, please visit: http://www.nationalmssociety.org

To find out more about the Nsite neurology software for SPECTRALIS visit: http://www.window2brain.com/

* The Annals of Neurology in November 2015 (2015;78:801-813)


back to overview