Tracking Acute Optic Neuritis with Optical Coherence Tomography

Acute inflammation of the optic nerve can lead to transient, variable swelling of the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL). Injury of axons within the optic nerve may lead to degeneration of the retinal ganglion cell (RGC) layer within the macula. RGC layer thickness has been proposed as a measure of neurodegeneration because it is relatively resistant to confounding inflammation. Researchers studied changes in the retinal layer during a 6-month period in 27 patients with acute optic neuritis to identify patterns of RGC layer changes.

At baseline, optic neuritis eyes had no difference in RGC layer thickness but had pRNFLs with increased thickness of 24.4 µm compared with unaffected eyes. By 6 months, pRNFL in affected eyes was dec…