Retrograde degeneration of visual pathway

Close metadata

BACKGROUND

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) gives the opportunity to examine retrograde degeneration of visual pathway damaged at various levels.

OBJECTIVE

To estimate OCT data on retrograde degeneration of visual pathway damaged at various levels.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Ganglion cell layer (GCL) thickness was measured by OCT in 79 patients with visual pathway damaged at various levels and known duration of visual disturbances. Twenty-One patients were diagnosed with traumatic lesions of the optic nerves and/or chiasma. Fifty-eight patients had retro-genicular visual pathway damage. Thirty-three patients were examined for postoperative homonymous hemianopia after surgery for drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy. Twenty-five patients were diagnosed with occipital lobe damage following stroke (12 patients), surgery for arteriovenous malformation (11 patients) and traumatic brain injury (2 patients). All patients underwent assessment of visual acuity, automatic static perimetry, MRI/CT of the brain. Retinal ganglion cell complex was analyzed during OCT.

RESULTS

GCL thinning following anterior visual pathway damage was detected in 20 out of 21 patients after ≥22 days. In case of post-genicular visual pathway damage, GCL thinning was found in 25 out of 58 patients (9 out of 33 ones after surgery for temporal lobe epilepsy and 16 out of 25 patients with occipital lobe lesion). After surgery for temporal lobe epilepsy, minimum period until GCL thinning detection after previous visual pathway damage was 3 months, in case of occipital lobe lesion — 5 months.

CONCLUSION

Retrograde visual pathway degeneration is followed by GCL thinning and depends on the level of visual pathway lesion.

Keywords:

retrograde degeneration of visual pathway

optical coherent tomography

Authors:

Eliseeva N.M.

Burdenko Neurosurgical Center

Serova N.K.

N.N. Burdenko National Medical Research Center of Neurosurgery

Pitskhelauri D.I.

Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology

SPIN RSCI: 3261-2144
Scopus AuthorID: 6507820245
ORCID: 0000-0003-0374-7970

Kuchina O.B.

Burdenko Neurosurgical Center

Kudieva E.S.

Burdenko Neurosurgical Center

Received:

18.11.2020

Accepted:

08.10.2021

List of references:

Van Buren JM. Trans-synaptic retrograde degeneration in the visual system of primates. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry. 1963;26(5):402-409. https://doi.org/10.1136/jnnp.26.5.402
Hendrickson A, Warner CF, Possin D, Huang J, Kwan WC, Bourne JA. Retrograde transneuronal degeneration in the retina and lateral geniculate nucleus of the V1- lesioned marmoset monkey. Brain Structure and Function. 2015;220(1):351-360. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-013-0659-7
Miller NR, Newman SA. Transsynaptic degeneration. Archives of Ophthalmology. 1981;99(9):1654. https://doi.org/10.1001/archopht.1981.03930020528032
Jindahra P, Petrie A, Plant GT. Retrograde trans-synaptic retinal ganglion cell loss identified by optical coherence tomography. Brain. 2009;132(Pt 3):628-634. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awp001
Fisher JB, Jacobs DA, Markowitz CE, Galetta SL, Volpe NJ, Nano-Schiavi ML, Baier ML, Frohman EM, Winslow H, Frohman TC, Calabresi PA, Maguire MG, Cutter GR, Balcer LJ. Relation of visual function to retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in multiple sclerosis. Ophthalmology. 2006;113(2):324-332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ophtha.2005.10.040
Costello F, Coupland S, Hodge W, Lorello GR, Koroluk J, Pan YI, Freedman MS, Zackon DH, Kardon RH. Quantifying axonal loss after optic neuritis with optical coherence tomography. Annals of Neurology. 2006;59(6):963-969. https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.20851
Papchenko T, Grainger BT, Savino PJ, Gamble GD, Danesh-Meyer HV. Macular thickness predictive of visual field sensitivity in ischaemic optic neuropathy. Acta Ophthalmologica. 2012;90(6):463-469. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-3768.2012.02467.x
Aggarwal D, Tan O, Huang D, Sadun AA. Patterns of Ganglion Cell Complex and Nerve Fiber Layer Loss in Nonarteritic Ischemic Optic Neuropathy by Fourier-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. 2012;53(8):4539-4545. https://doi.org/10.1167/iovs.11-9300
Contreras I, Noval S, Rebolleda G, Muñoz-Negrete FJ. Follow-up of nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy with optical coherence tomography. Ophthalmology. 2007;114(12):2338-2344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ophtha.2007.05.04210
Larrea BA, Iztueta MG, Indart LM, Alday NM. Early axonal damage detection by ganglion cell complex analysis with optical coherence tomography in nonarteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy. Graefe’s Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology. 2014;252(11):1839-1846. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-014-2697-0
Loo JL, Tian J, Miller NR, Subramanian PS. Use of optical coherence tomography in predicting post-treatment visual outcome in anterior visual pathway meningiomas. The British Journal of Ophthalmology. 2013;97(11):1455-1458. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjophthalmol-2013-303449
Asensio-Sánchez VM, Foncubierta J. Progressive loss of vision caused by asymptomatic pituitary macroadenoma: role of OCT. International Medical Case Reports Journal. 2016;9:291-293. https://doi.org/10.2147/IMCRJ.S113339
Kanamori A, Nakamura M, Matsui N, Nagai A, Nakanishi Y, Kusuhara S, Yamada Y, Negi A. Optical coherence tomography detects characteristic retinal nerve fiber layer thickness corresponding to band atrophy of the optic disc. Ophthalmology. 2004;111(12):2278-2283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ophtha.2004.05.035
Monteiro MLR, Leal BC, Rosa AAM, Bronstein MD. Optical coherence tomography analysis of axonal loss in band atrophy of the optic nerve. The British Journal of Ophthalmology. 2004;88(7):896-899. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjo.2003.038489
Danesh-Meyer HV, Carroll SC, Foroozan R, Savino PJ, Fan J, Jiang Y, Hoorn SV. Relationship between retinal nerve fiber layer and visual field sensitivity as measured by optical coherence tomography in chiasmal compression. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. 2006;47(11):4827-4835. https://doi.org/10.1167/iovs.06-0327
Iqbal M, Irfan S, Goyal JL, Singh D, Singh H, Dutta G. An Analysis of Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness before and after Pituitary Adenoma Surgery and its Correlation with Visual Acuity. Neurology India. 2020;68(2):346-351. https://doi.org/10.4103/0028-3886.280634
Moon CH, Hwang SC, Kim BT, Ohn YH, Park TK. Visual prognostic value of optical coherence tomography and photopic negative response in chiasmal compression. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. 2011;52(11):8527-8533. https://doi.org/10.1167/iovs.11-8034
Mediero S, Noval S, Bravo-Ljubetic L, Contreras I, Carceller F. Visual outcomes, visual Fields, and optical coherence tomography in paediatric craniopharyngioma. Neuro-Ophthalmology. 2015;39(3):132-139. https://doi.org/10.3109/01658107.2015.1039549
Avery RA, Liu GT, Fisher MJ, Quinn GE, Belasco JB, Phillips PC, Maguire MG, Balcer LJ. Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in children with optic pathways gliomas. American Journal of Ophthalmology. 2011;151(3):542-549. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajo.2010.08.046
Fard MA, Fakhree S, Eshraghi B. Correlation of optical coherence tomography parameters with clinical and radiological progression in patients with symptomatic optic pathway gliomas. Graefe’s Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology. 2013;251(10):2429-2436. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-013-2394-4
Jindahra P, Hedges TR, Mendoza Santiesteban CE, Plant GT. Optical coherence tomography of the retina: applications in neurology. Current Opinion in Neurology. 2010;23(1):16-23. https://doi.org/10.1097/WCO.0b013e328334e99b
Park HY, Park YG, Cho AH, Park CK. Transneuronal retrograde degeneration of the retinal ganglion cells in patients with cerebral infarction. Ophthalmology. 2013;120(6):1292-1299. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ophtha.2012.11.021
Herro AM, Lam BL. Retrograde degeneration of retinal ganglion cells in homonymous hemianopsia. Clinical Ophthalmology. 2015;9:1057-1064. https://doi.org/10.2147/OPTH.S81749
Yamashita T, Miki A, Goto K, Arak Si, Takizaw G, Ieki Y, Kiryu J, Tabuch A, Iguch Y, Kimura K, Yagita Y. Retinal Ganglion Cell Atrophy in Homonymous Hemianopia due to Acquired Occipital Lesions Observed Using Cirrus High-Definition-OCT. Journal of Ophthalmology. 2016;2016:2394957. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/2394957
Seif GI, Nomura H, Tator CH. Retrograde axonal degeneration «dieback» in the corticospinal tract after transection injury of the rat spinal cord: a confocal microscopy study. Journal of Neurotrauma. 2007;24(9):1513-1528. https://doi.org/10.1089/neu.2007.0323
Kerschensteiner M, Schwab ME, Lichtman JW, Misgeld T. In vivo imaging of axonal degeneration and regeneration in the injured spinal cord. Nature Medicine. 2005;11(5):572-577. https://doi.org/10.1038/nm1229
Wang JT, Medress ZA, Barres BA. Axon degeneration: molecular mechanisms of a self-destruction pathway. The Journal of Cell Biology. 2012;196(1):7-18. https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201108111
Lubinska L, Niemierko S. Velocity and intensity of bidirectional migration of acetylcholinesterase in transected nerves. Brain Research. 1971;27(2):329-342. https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-8993(71)90258-7
Jindahra P, Plant GT, Petrie A. Demonstration of the time course of retrograde trans-synaptic degeneration in the visual system using optical coherence tomography. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry. 2010;81(11):23-24 https://doi.org/10.1136/jnnp.2010.226340.28
Jindahra P, Petrie A, Plant GT The time course of retrograde trans-synaptic degeneration following occipital lobe damage in humans. Brain. 2012;135(Pt 2):534-541. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awr324

Close metadata