Serum neurofilament light chain and optical coherence tomography measures in MS: A longitudinal study.

Objective: To study the association between serum neurofilament light chain (sNfL) and multiple optical coherence tomography (OCT) measures in patients with MS and healthy controls (HCs).

Methods: In this prospective study, 110 patients with MS were recruited, together with 52 age- and sex-matched HCs. Clinical evaluation and spectral domain OCT and sNfL were obtained at baseline and after 5.

Retinal Arterio-Arterial Collaterals in Susac Syndrome.

Background: The ophthalmic findings of Susac syndrome (SS) consist of visual field defects related to branch retinal artery occlusion (BRAO), and fluorescein angiography (FA) reveals a unique staining pattern. To date, retinal arterial collateral development has been described only in a single patient. Given that the immunopathological process in SS induces retinal ischemia, it is conceivable that abnormal blood vessel development may occur in affected individuals.

Is Multiple Sclerosis Associated With a Lower Intraocular Pressure?

Objective: To determine if multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with lower intraocular pressure (IOP) compared with individuals without MS.

Methods: Thirty patients with clinically definite MS were identified and a retrospective chart review was conducted. Each patient with MS underwent IOP recording by a single investigator using kinetic applanation tonometry.

Exudative Polymorphous Vitelliform Retinopathy: Importance of Early Recognition of the Condition in Patients with Metastatic Melanoma.

Introduction: Because of the advent of monoclonal antibodies in the treatment of metastatic melanoma, patients with this disease are surviving longer. Early recognition of the disease has therefore become even more important.

Case Report: We present a patient with vitelliform maculopathy, a paraneoplastic retinal maculopathy that is under-recognized.

Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and thalamus pathology in multiple sclerosis patients.

Background And Purpose: Visual impairments are frequent in multiple sclerosis (MS). Optic neuritis can directly reduce retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness. Our objectives were to evaluate associations of the RNFL thickness (RNFLT) of MS patients with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures of regional brain atrophy and tissue injury in the post-chiasmatic deep gray matter (GM) section of the visual pathway.

Retinal nerve fiber thickness and MRI white matter abnormalities in healthy relatives of multiple sclerosis patients.

Objectives: To compare retinal nerve fiber (RNFL) thickness and conventional and non-conventional MRI characteristics of healthy controls (HCs) from the general population (non-fHC) to healthy relatives of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients (fHC).

Methods: Sixty-eight (68) HCs underwent optical coherence tomography (OCT) and 3T MRI examination. Subjects were classified based on whether or not there was a family history of MS.

Cholesterol affects retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in patients with multiple sclerosis with optic neuritis.

Background And Purpose: To evaluate the associations between retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness and lipid profiles in multiple sclerosis (MS).

Methods: This study enrolled 136 patients with MS (n = 272 eyes; 108 females, 28 males, mean age: 46.7 ± 8.

Neurological basis for eye movements of the blind.

When normal subjects fix their eyes upon a stationary target, their gaze is not perfectly still, due to small movements that prevent visual fading. Visual loss is known to cause greater instability of gaze, but reported comparisons with normal subjects using reliable measurement techniques are few. We measured binocular gaze using the magnetic search coil technique during attempted fixation (monocular or binocular viewing) of 4 individuals with childhood-onset of monocular visual loss, 2 individuals with late-onset monocular visual loss due to age-related macular degeneration, 2 individuals with bilateral visual loss, and 20 healthy control subjects.

Novel treatment for radiation optic neuropathy with intravenous bevacizumab.

Radiation optic neuropathy is a devastating form of vision loss that can occur months to years after radiation therapy for tumors and other lesions located in close proximity to the visual pathways. We present the case of a 24-year-old woman who underwent external beam radiation for treatment of a tectal pilocytic astrocytoma, and 5 years later she developed bilateral radiation optic neuropathy and radiation necrosis of the right temporal lobe. We opted to treat her with intravenous bevacizumab with 3 doses every 3 weeks, as well as dexamethasone and pentoxifylline.

Toluene optic neurotoxicity: magnetic resonance imaging and pathologic features.

Toluene, a colorless liquid found in glues, paints, and industrial products, is lipid soluble and rapidly absorbed by the lipid-rich central nervous system. Prolonged exposure through occupation or purposeful inhalation may lead to neurologic abnormalities. Two men presented with multifocal central nervous system defects and bilateral optic neuropathy of unclear etiology.

Retinal nerve fiber thickness in inflammatory demyelinating diseases of childhood onset.

Purpose: To evaluate retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFLT) using optical coherence tomography (OCT) in children with acquired demyelinating diseases.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of patients seen between 2006-2008 at the Pediatric MS Center of the Jacobs Neurological Institute. Consensus definitions for pediatric demyelinating disease were followed.

Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness is associated with brain MRI outcomes in multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis is characterized by the dual pathological processes of inflammation and neurodegeneration. Conventional MRI techniques are considered the best tools for assessing and monitoring lesion burden and inflammation but are limited in their ability to assess axonal loss. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a simple high-resolution technique that uses near infrared light to quantify the thickness of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), which contains only non-myelinated axons.

Study of mitoxantrone for the treatment of recurrent neuromyelitis optica (Devic disease).

Background: Neuromyelitis optica is a severe demyelinating disease that selectively involves the optic nerves and the spinal cord but usually spares the brain. It is considered to have a B-cell-induced pathogenesis. Mitoxantrone hydrochloride, a synthetic anthracenedione approved for worsening relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis and secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, has been shown to primarily suppress the humoral response.

Treatment of chronic facial pain.

Facial pain occurs because of damage to the fifth cranial nerve anywhere along its course from its terminal subcutaneous craniofacial branches to the brainstem. Although topical agents may be effective in relieving pain caused by subcutaneous branch damage, systemic oral agents are usually needed to alter or correct deeper trigeminal nociceptive pain caused by damage to the trigeminal nerve further along its course. Antidepressive agents with anti-nociceptive properties, anticonvulsants, and anti-inflammatory agents are most commonly used.

Recurrent optic neuritis as the presenting manifestation of primary hypereosinophilic syndrome: a report of two cases.

Two patients sustained multiple attacks of optic neuritis with persistent visual loss. An elevated eosinophil count was initially considered an incidental finding. Years later, the diagnosis of primary hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) was confirmed by skin and bone marrow in one patient and by lung biopsy in the other.

Pupil-sparing, painless compression of the oculomotor nerve by expanding basilar artery aneurysm: a case of ocular pseudomyasthenia.

Background: Oculomotor nerve paresis may have relatively benign but also life-threatening causes. Distinguishing between these is of great clinical importance.

Objective: To reveal a potential pitfall of the clinical evaluation of oculomotor nerve paresis.

MRI findings in Susac's syndrome.

Background: Susac syndrome (SS) is a self-limited syndrome, presumably autoimmune, consisting of a clinical triad of encephalopathy, branch retinal artery occlusions, and hearing loss. All three elements of the triad may not be present or recognized, and MR imaging is often necessary to establish the diagnosis.

Objective: To determine the spectrum of abnormalities on MRI in SS.

Pathogenesis of the vitreous cloud emanating from subretinal hemorrhage.

Objective: To determine the cellular mechanism that allows subretinal hemorrhage to cloud the vitreous.

Methods: We simulated subretinal hemorrhage in a rabbit model by injecting autologous blood beneath the retina. At the first appearance of a cloud in the vitreous a vitrectomy was performed and using a surgical microscope, the retina was searched for breaks.

Elevated concentration of intraocular cortisol obtained by sequential parabulbar injection in rabbit model.

Background: Parabulbar injections of corticosteroids yield a high intraocular concentration, but the half-life is short. We determined the concentration of cortisol that might be obtained by sequential parabulbar infusions of hydrocortisone.

Materials And Methods: Single parabulbar injections of hydrocortisone sodium succinate were made in a rabbit model and the time of maximum concentration and half-life determined in the retina-choroid, vitreous, serum, and the tissues of the paired eye by radio-immune assay.

Abnormal vergence with upper brainstem infarcts: pseudoabducens palsy.

Background: Infarcts of the rostral brainstem often cause vertical gaze palsies but may also produce inappropriate convergence that manifests as pseudoabducens palsy and convergence-retraction nystagmus (CRN). Although the substrate for vergence has been defined in the monkey as lying dorsal and lateral to the oculomotor nucleus, the human homologue is unknown.

Method: - The authors reviewed the clinical features, ocular findings, and CT or MR lesions in seven patients with pseudoabducens palsy and "top-of-the-basilar" infarction.