Subtle retinal pathology in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is characterized by neuro‐ophthalmological abnormalities beyond disturbed oculomotor control such as decreased visual acuity and disturbed visual evoked potentials. Here we report retinal alterations in a cohort of 24 patients with clinically definite (n = 20) or probable (n = 4) ALS as compared to matched controls. High‐resolution spectral domain optical coherence tomography with retinal segmentation revealed a subtle reduction in the macular thickness and the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) as well as a marked thinning of the inner nuclear layer (INL). Our data indicate an unprecedented retinal damage pattern and suggest neurodegeneration beyond the motor system in this disease.

• Publication year

  2014

• Venue

  Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology

• Publication date

  2014-03-11

• Fields of study

  Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1002/acn3.46PMID 25590041PMCID 4292746
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• The observed retinal pattern suggests neurodegeneration beyond the motor system and represents an unprecedented retinal damage pattern in ALS.

  Confidence 0.90

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extraction뀨 (7c402c1b98) reviewq (76h6bfydm6) reviewB (s683577b42) review
• High-resolution spectral domain optical coherence tomography with retinal segmentation detected subtle thinning of macular thickness and the retinal nerve fiber layer, together with marked thinning of the inner nuclear layer.

  Confidence 0.98

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extraction뀨 (7c402c1b98) reviewq (76h6bfydm6) reviewB (s683577b42) review
• A cohort of 24 ALS patients showed retinal alterations compared with matched controls.

  Confidence 0.95

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extraction뀨 (7c402c1b98) reviewq (76h6bfydm6) reviewB (s683577b42) review

• amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

  condition

  A progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting motor neurons, abbreviated ALS in the abstract.

  Aliases: ALS

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extraction뀨 (7c402c1b98) reviewq (76h6bfydm6) reviewB (s683577b42) review
• inner nuclear layer

  anatomical structure

  A retinal layer containing the cell bodies of bipolar, horizontal, and amacrine cells, evaluated for thickness.

  Aliases: INL

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extraction뀨 (7c402c1b98) reviewq (76h6bfydm6) reviewB (s683577b42) review
• macular thickness

  anatomical measurement

  The thickness of the central retinal region around the macula measured in the study.

  Aliases: macular thinning

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extraction뀨 (7c402c1b98) reviewq (76h6bfydm6) reviewB (s683577b42) review
• matched controls

  comparison group

  A comparison group selected to correspond to the ALS cohort for retinal measurements.

  Aliases: controls

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extraction뀨 (7c402c1b98) reviewq (76h6bfydm6) reviewB (s683577b42) review
• retinal alterations

  finding

  Changes in retinal structure assessed in ALS patients and compared against controls.

  Aliases: retinal pathology, retinal damage pattern

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extraction뀨 (7c402c1b98) reviewq (76h6bfydm6) reviewB (s683577b42) review
• retinal nerve fiber layer

  anatomical structure

  The innermost retinal layer formed by ganglion cell axons, measured as part of retinal thickness analysis.

  Aliases: RNFL

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extraction뀨 (7c402c1b98) reviewq (76h6bfydm6) reviewB (s683577b42) review
• retinal segmentation

  analysis method

  An analysis procedure that separates retinal layers in optical coherence tomography images.

  Aliases: segmentation

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extraction뀨 (7c402c1b98) reviewq (76h6bfydm6) reviewB (s683577b42) review
• spectral domain optical coherence tomography

  method

  A high-resolution imaging technique used to measure retinal layer thickness in the participants.

  Aliases: SD-OCT

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extraction뀨 (7c402c1b98) reviewq (76h6bfydm6) reviewB (s683577b42) review

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