Correlation between morphological and functional retinal impairment in patients affected by ocular hypertension, glaucoma, demyelinating optic neuritis and Alzheimer's disease

In this article the correlations between the morphological evaluation of the nerve fiber layer (NFL) thickness (by OCT) and retinal functional assessment (by Pattern ERG recordings) performed in patients affected by ocular hypertension (OHT), glaucoma (OAG), demyelinating optic neuritis (MSON), and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are reported. In OHT eyes with ocular hypertension we observed that the inter-individual variation in NFL thickness is correlated with the variability of the PERG responses (the thinner the layer, the worse the visual function). In our OAG, MSON and AD eyes we observed a significant reduction in NFL thickness when compared with controls. In OHT, OAG, MSON and AD eyes abnormal PERG responses with delayed implicit times and reduced amplitudes were found. The impairment in the PERG parameters was significantly correlated to the reduction in NFL thickness. Our results suggest that in patients affected by ocular hypertension, glaucoma, demyelinating optic neuritis, and Alzheimer's Disease there is a reduction of NFL thickness evaluated "in vivo" by OCT, and this morphological involvement is correlated with electrophysiological responses assumed to be originating from the innermost retinal layers.