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

J Neuroimaging. 2015 Jan 15;

Authors: Lopes FC, Alves-Leon SV, Godoy JM, de Souza Batista Scherpenhuijzen S, Fezer L, Gasparetto EL

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.

PMID: 25588974 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]