Quantitative 3-T diffusion tensor imaging in detecting optic nerve degeneration in patients with glaucoma: association with retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and clinical severity

• DOI: 10.1007/s00234-013-1133-1
• Publication Date: 2013-01-28T08:34:42Z
• Authors: Mei-Yun Wang; Ke Wu; Jun-Min Xu; Jianping Dai; Wei Qin; Jiangang Liu; Jie Tian; Dapeng Shi
• Keywords: Adult; Male; Statistics as Topic; Reproducibility of Results; Optic Nerve; Middle Aged; Sensitivity and Specificity; Severity of Illness Index; 03 medical and health sciences; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; 0302 clinical medicine; Optic Nerve Diseases; Humans; Female; Glaucoma, Angle-Closure; Aged

To investigate the association of quantitative 3-T diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) with retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness measured by optical coherence tomography (OCT) and clinical severity in detecting optic nerve degeneration in patients with primary closed-angle glaucoma.Twenty three patients (42 eyes; 9 men, 14 women) with primary closed-angle glaucoma and 20 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. Both DTI and OCT were performed on the optic nerves of all subjects. The mean diffusivity (MD), fractional anisotropy (FA), and eigenvalue maps were obtained for quantitative analysis. RNFL thickness and quantitative electrophysiology were also performed on all subjects. The association of quantitative DTI with RNFL thickness and glaucoma stage was analyzed.Compared with control nerves, the FA, λ[parallel], and λ[perpendicular] values, and RNFL thickness in affected nerves decreased, while MD increased in patients with primary glaucoma (p < 0.05). There was a significant correlation between FA, MD, λ[parallel], and λ[perpendicular] and the mean RNFL thickness (P < 0.01). The mean FA and λ[perpendicular] values derived with DT MR imaging correlated well with glaucoma stage (P < 0.05), but the mean MD and λ[parallel] values did not correlate with glaucoma stage (P > 0.05).DTI measurement could detect abnormality of the optic nerve in patients with glaucoma and may serve as a biomarker of disease severity.