Assessment of macular retinal thickness and volume in normal eyes and highly myopic eyes with spectral optical coherence tomography

Purpose. To study the features of regenerative processes occurring in the microstructures of the foveolar region after successful surgery of the primary full-thickness macular holes (FTMH) by the method of «temporal inverted ILM flap». Material and methods. Using spectral optical coherence tomography (SOCT), the features of regenerative processes in the microstructures of the foveolar region were studied in 31 patients (32 eyes) with stage II-IV FTMH according to J. Gass (1995), who were successfully operated on for this reason. Results. Regenerative processes of gradual restoration of microstructures of the foveolar region began from the first days after surgery and continued for 1 year. As a result, the U-shaped foveolar contour was restored, the central retinal thickness changed (from 399±61.4 to 195±61 microns, p<0.05); the external limiting membrane (ELM) and the ellipsoid zone (EZ) were completely restored in 27/32 (84.4%) and 23/32 (71.8%) eyes, respectively. Conclusion. Regenerative processes in the microstructures of the foveolar zone are of a step-by-step nature and are traced for one year after the surgery of the primary FTMH by the method of «temporal inverted ILM flap». The essence of the processes: overlapping FTMH with flaps of ILM, filling its lumen with a «glial plug», restoring the ELM, EZ and interdigitative zones. Key words: foveal microstructure, primary full-thickness macular holes, temporal inverted ILM flap, optical coherence tomography.

Download Full-text

Retinal Optical Coherence Tomography Metrics Are Unchanged in Verubecestat Alzheimer’s Disease Clinical Trial but Correlate with Baseline Regional Brain Atrophy

Journal of Alzheimer s Disease ◽

10.3233/jad-200735 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 79 (1) ◽

pp. 275-287

Author(s):

Robert C. Sergott ◽

Annaswamy Raji ◽

James Kost ◽

Cyrille Sur ◽

Saheeda Jackson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Clinical Trial ◽

Optical Coherence Tomography ◽

Nerve Fiber ◽

Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer ◽

Brain Atrophy ◽

Retinal Thickness ◽

Optical Coherence ◽

Fiber Layer ◽

Nerve Fiber Layer ◽

Retinal Nerve Fiber

Background: We performed exploratory analyses of retinal thickness data from a clinical trial of the AβPP cleaving enzyme (BACE) inhibitor verubecestat in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Objective: To evaluate: 1) possible retinal thickness changes following BACE inhibition; and 2) possible association between retinal thickness and brain atrophy. Methods: Retinal thickness was measured using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography in a 78-week randomized placebo-controlled trial of verubecestat in 1,785 patients with mild-to-moderate AD. Changes from baseline in retinal pigment epithelium, macular grid retinal nerve fiber layer, central subfield retinal thickness, and macular grid volume were evaluated for verubecestat versus placebo. Correlation analyses were performed to investigate the potential association between macular grid retinal nerve fiber layer and central subfield retinal thickness with brain volumetric magnetic resonance imaging (vMRI) data at baseline, as well as correlations for changes from baseline at Week 78 in patients receiving placebo. Results: Verubecestat did not significantly alter retinal thickness during the trial compared with placebo. At baseline, mean macular grid retinal nerve fiber layer and central subfield retinal thickness were weakly but significantly correlated (Pearson’s r values≤0.23, p-values < 0.01) with vMRI of several brain regions including whole brain, hippocampus, and thalamus. At Week 78, correlations between retinal thickness and brain vMRI changes from baseline in the placebo group were small and mostly not statistically significant. Conclusion: BACE inhibition by verubecestat was not associated with adverse effects on retinal thickness in patients with mild-to-moderate AD. Correlations between retinal thickness and brain volume were observed at baseline. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01739348 (registered December 3, 2012; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01739348).

Download Full-text