A study of the Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness Changes in Multiple Sclerosis Using Optical Coherence Tomography in Nassiriyha city

Abstract

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive relatively inexpensive technique that allows the quantitative cross sectional imaging of the RNFL. It has been used predominantly to investigate retinal axonal loss in glaucoma. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the retinal nerve fiber layer thickness as a structural biomarker for axonal loss in multiple sclerosis regardless the frank history of previous attack of optic neuritis. We evaluated the relationship between RNFL changes and the patients' age and duration of the disease. We also studied the correlation between the RNFL thickness and patients' clinical data as BCVA, history suggestive of optic neuritis as well as optic disc appearance by fundoscopy.