Peripapillary Vessel Density as Early Biomarker in Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

Background: To evaluate retinal vessel density (VD) in macular and in peripapillary regions in patients with recent onset of multiple sclerosis, at initial demyelinating event (IDE) and in matched relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients.Methods: We evaluated VD in superficial capillary plexus, deep capillary plexus, choriocapillaris and radial peripapillary capillary plexus in IDE, RRMS patients and in matched healthy controls (HCs) through Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCT-A). Clinical history, including history of optic neuritis, Expanded Disability Status scale and disease duration of patients were collected.Results: Thirty patients (20 with IDE and 10 with RRMS) and 15 HCs were enrolled. IDE patients showed a lower VD in radial peripapillary capillary plexus compared with controls (coeff. β = −3.578; p = 0.002). RRMS patients displayed a lower VD in both superficial capillary plexus and radial peripapillary capillary plexus compared with HCs (coeff. β = −4.955; p = 0.002, and coeff. β = −7.446; p < 0.001, respectively). Furthermore, RRMS patients showed a decreased VD in radial peripapillary capillary plexus compared with IDE patients (coeff. β = −3.868; p = 0.003).Conclusions: Peripapillary region vessel density reduction, revealed through OCT-A, might be considered as an early event in MS, and might be relevant as a biomarker of disease pathology.

The Retinal Vessel Density as a New Vascular Biomarker in Multisystem Involvement in Fabry Disease: An Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Study

“…The retinal and cerebral small vessels share similar embryologic origins, anatomical features, and physiological properties; therefore, the retinal vessels may serve as a research model to detect subclinical cerebrovascular changes associated with FD [ 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ].…”

Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography of Peripapillary Vessel Density in Multiple Sclerosis and Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder: A Comparative Study

“…The OCTA software also provides automatic vessel segmentation, and evaluation presented quantitatively as a vessel density (VD) parameter [9]. RPC's vessel density was independently evaluated in MS and NMOSD patients in several studies [10][11][12][13][14]. Spain et al reported that in MS patients, the RPC density was significantly reduced in ON (MS+ON) and non-ON (MS−ON) eyes compared with controls, but in the study of Wang et al, the RPC of MS−ON eyes did not differ from healthy eyes.…”

Macular vessel density differs in multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder: an optical coherence tomography angiography study.

“…Several studies evaluated the retinal vessel density in MS [8][9][10][11][12] and NMOSD [13][14][15][16] patients, but the SCP and DCP were distinguished only in three studies concerning multiple sclerosis [8][9][10] , and in two NMOSD studies 14,15 . However, the results of the studies were not consistent.…”

“…However, the results of the studies were not consistent. The common observation was that the SCP is reduced in MS patients when compared with healthy controls 9,10 . The study of Feucht et al revealed that lower vessel density of SCP and DCP was associated only with prior ON, but Farci et al did not found the differences between eyes with or without former optic neuritis 8,10 .…”

“…The study of Feucht et al revealed that lower vessel density of SCP and DCP was associated only with prior ON, but Farci et al did not found the differences between eyes with or without former optic neuritis 8,10 . According to Cennamo et al, the ganglion cell complex (GCC) thickness was associated only with SCP 9 . In NMOSD, the vessel density of SCP and DCP was evaluated in two studies by Kwapong et al 14,15 .…”