Reduced gray matter volume in patients with retinal detachment: evidence from a voxel-based morphometry study

Abstract

Background We know little about the pathogenesis and diagnosis of retinal detachment. Purpose To assess spontaneous changes in the cerebral cortex of patients with retinal detachment using voxel-based morphometry and to explore the relationship between retinal detachment and clinical behavioral performance. Material and Methods Patients (14 men, 6 women; average age = 49.15 ± 10.32 years) with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (duration of 24.05 ± 19.61 days) and 20 matched healthy controls were recruited. All participants underwent repeated functional magnetic resonance imaging scans. The original three-dimensional T1 brain images were analyzed using voxel-based morphometry and whole brain white matter volume and whole brain gray matter volume were compared with those of the control group. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to classify the mean gray matter volume values of the patients with retinal detachment compared with the controls. Results Compared with the controls, whole brain gray matter volume was significantly reduced in patients with retinal detachment, as evidenced by changes in the right inferior frontal gyrus, right superior temporal gyrus, right anterior cingulate gyrus, and right cuneus. In addition, the posterior lobe of the cerebellum, left hippocampus, left cingulate gyrus, and left middle temporal gyrus were also obviously atrophied. Furthermore, whole brain white matter volume of the patients with retinal detachment showed a slight reduction. The ROC curve analysis of each brain region showed that the accuracy of the area under the curve was high. Conclusion We proved that patients with retinal detachment had unusual changes in the gray matter volume and white matter volume in vision-related brain regions, which could reveal potential pathological mechanisms of retinal detachment.

Voxel-based morphometry reveals altered gray matter volume related to cognitive dysfunctioning in neovascular glaucoma patients

“…The superior and middle temporal gyri are thought to specialize in processing dorsal signals along the visual pathway [49]. Previous studies have observed abnormalities in the superior temporal gyrus in specific ophthalmopathy, including but not limited to optic neuritis [50], diabetic retinopathy [51], comitant strabismus [18], and retinal detachment [23]. In this study, the decrease in GMV in the superior temporal gyrus may indicate atrophy of temporal retinal fibers in NVG patients [29] (Table 4).…”

“…At present, in addition to cognitive diseases, VBM has been applied in ophthalmic diseases, including optic neuromyelitis [15], advanced monocular blindness [16], amblyopia [17], comitant strabismus [18], glaucoma [19], and acute eye pain [20] (Table 1, Ref. [15,16,18,[20][21][22][23]).…”

Decreased gray matter volume and increased white matter volume in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration: a voxel-based morphometry study

“…It has been used to study the pathology of trigeminal neuralgia, senile dementia, mild cognitive impairment, and motor neuron diseases [ 12 – 14 ]. In ophthalmology, it has also been used to increase understanding of optic neuritis, retinal detachment, acute eye pain, advanced monocular blindness [ 15 – 18 ], and nAMD. It offers a powerful method of elucidating the pathological mechanisms of those diseases, and monitoring the course of their progression.…”

The Predictive Potential of Altered Voxel-Based Morphometry in Severely Obese Patients With Meibomian Gland Dysfunction

“…Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) is another MRI technique and is used to assess structural compositions of individual voxels in whole brain volume, gray matter volume (GMV) and white matter volume ( Ashburner and Friston, 2000 ). In recent years, the VBM approach has been used in ocular diseases such as retinal detachment ( Li et al, 2020 ), proliferative diabetic retinopathy ( Xiao et al, 2021 ), and acute eye pain ( Lan et al, 2019 ). A previous study found that severely obese individuals had increased risk of cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder caused by reduced GMV ( Gustafson et al, 2003 ).…”