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Background: Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an inflammatory disease associated with optic neuritis and myelitis. Recently, several studies showed that optical coherence tomography (OCT) could be an interesting method for the evaluation of disease severity; however, to date there are no studies with a longitudinal follow-up of visual function in NMO. The aim of this study was to assess the ability of OCT to evaluate the progression of visual dysfunction in NMO., Patients and Methods: A group of 30 NMO patients (thus, 60 eyes), comprised of 20 women and 10 men with a mean age of 43.7 +/- 12.3 years, were prospectively evaluated clinically and by a whole neuro-ophthalmological work-up, including: visual acuity (VA), fundoscopy, visual evoked potential (VEP), visual field (VF) and optical coherence tomography (OCT). All patients were tested at baseline (after a mean disease duration of 6.1 years) and after a mean time of follow-up of 18 months (range: 12-36 months)., Results: Mean VA was similar at the two evaluation times (0.77 +/- 0.36 versus 0.77 +/- 0.35). The mean VF defect decreased slightly, but the difference was not significant (-5.9 +/- 1.3 dB versus -5.3 +/- 1.3 dB). In contrast, the mean retinal thickness seen on OCT decreased from 87.4 +/- 23.3 µm to 79.7 +/- 22.4 µm (p = 0.006). These modifications were only observed in eyes with a past or a recent history of optic neuritis (-15.1 µm; p < 0.001) and not in eyes without any history of optic neuritis (-2.4 µm; not significant). Also, they occurred independently of the occurrence of relapses (n = 13) and especially optic neuritis episodes; however, the number of optic neuritis episodes was low (n = 5)., Conclusion: OCT seems to be a more sensitive test than VA or VF for monitoring ophthalmological function in NMO and it seems to be helpful for the detection of infra-clinical episodes in patients with a past history of optic neuritis. Our results suggest that this easily performed technique should be used in the follow-up of NMO, but complementary studies are warranted to confirm its interest at an individual level.

The article presents a study which aims to examine the ability of optical coherence tomography (OCT) to measure visual dysfunction progression in neuromyelitis optica (NMO). A group of 30 patients with NMO were evaluated clinically by OCT, visual field (VF), visual evoked potential (VEP), fundoscopy and visual acuity (VA). The study shows that mean VA was the same at the two evaluation times and mean VF defect slightly declined.

Purpose Optic neuritis is a demyelinating inflammation of the optic nerve. Many cases of optic neuritis are associated with multiple sclerosis or neuromyelitis optica. In some cases, a recurrence of isolated optic neuritis is observed. However this existence of entity remains controversial. Yhe present retrospective study was designed to estimate the prevalence of this condition. Methods In five university hospitals (Lille, Montpellier, Nimes, Reims and Strasbourg), between October 2005 and October 2009, the charts of patients with recurrent isolated optic neuropathy (RION) and normal cerebral magnetic resonance imaging included prospectively were reviewed. The following parameters were analyzed: date of the first relapse, age at onset, duration at the time of inclusion, recurrence after steroid withdrawal, unilateral or bilateral involvement, number of relapses, visual acuity, retinal nerve fiber layer thickness, diagnostic workup, and longterm treatment with immunosuppressive or immunomodulatory drugs. Results During the predefined period, 18 patients (15 women, 3 men; age 17–54 years at onset) matched the inclusion criteria. Between two and six relapses of optic neuropathy were observed. The median duration was 6 years. In untreated patients (n=9), a significant inverse correlation was observed between visual acuity and duration of the disease; this correlation was not found in the group of patients (n=9) with long‐term treatment Conclusion The progressive loss of vision over time in this retrospective study of recurrent isolated optic neuropathy could be related to axonal loss. A prospective cohort study is necessary to confirm this hypothesis and to evaluate the benefit of long‐term treatment on this progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]