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Background/Aim: Retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness (RT), which can reflect the status of the retinal optic nerve cells, may be affected in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). There are few studies on the correlation of RT of patients with AD (AD-RT) with clinical symptoms of various cognitive domains, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and activities of daily living (ADL). This study is to investigate the relationships between RT and the abovementioned clinical symptoms of AD. Methods: A total of 96 patients with AD were included in this study. RT was measured in these patients using optical coherence tomography (OCT). Demographic variables, RT, and clinical symptoms were compared between the normal and the abnormal AD-RT groups. Clinical symptoms, including cognitive symptoms, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and ADL, were evaluated using a series of rating scales. Results: The relationships between RT and cognitive symptoms scores were analyzed in patients with AD. Reduced RT was found in 54.4% of patients with AD. The average RT, RT of the superior 1/2 quadrant, and RT of the inferior 1/2 quadrant of both eyes were all significantly decreased in the abnormal AD-RT group (p < 0.001). Overall cognitive function and performance in multiple cognitive domains, including memory, language, attention, and executive function, were also significantly impaired in the abnormal AD-RT group (p < 0.05). For lower RT value, the global cognitive function and the performance in multiple cognitive domains were worse. ADL was significantly compromised in patients with AD having lower RT values (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Lower RT value appear to be correlated with cognitive impairment, and RT may be an indicator of cognitive decline in patients with AD. Further studies are required to confirm our findings.
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OBJECTIVES: To analyze the differences and correlation between the ganglion cell complex (GCC), peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) and mean deviation (MD), mean sensitivity (MS) of saddle area tumor patients, and to evaluate the feasibility of using OCT to diagnose the visual pathway damage of saddle area tumor patients. METHODS: It was a case-control study. One hundred and eighty-eight normal persons and 279 saddle area tumor patients treated in Beijing Tiantan hospital, from November 2010 to June 2011, were recruited; the saddle area tumor patients were diagnosed by surgical sample pathological analysis. The recruits were divided into four groups, including the normal group, the pituitary gland tumours group, the meningiomas group and the craniopharyngiomas group. All patients received the visual field (VF) test using the Octopus 900 automated perimeter with the central 30 degree program, and the mean thickness measurements of GCC and pRNFL were made by RTVue OCT. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient was used to assess the correlation between GCC, pRNFL and MD, MS. The differences between pRNFL and GCC among the four groups were compared. RESULTS: The average thickness of the pRNFL (r(sOD) = 0.369 - 0.735, r(sOS) = 0.369 - 0.691) and GCC (r(sOD) = 0.357 - 0.797, r(sOS) = 0.375 - 0.681) were correlated with MD and MS (P < 0.01), and the measurements from the meningiomas was the most significant. Comparing with the normal group's thickness of pRNFL and GCC [OD: (113.60 ± 9.13) µm and (98.04 ± 6.85) µm; OS: (114.06 ± 8.99) µm and (97.70 ± 5.83) µm], the pituitary gland tumours group [OD: (101.25 ± 19.95) µm and (91.08 ± 13.19) µm; OS: (99.96 ± 20.95) µm and (89.82 ± 15.47) µm], meningiomas group [OD:(89.54 ± 19.19) µm and (80.77 ± 10.43) µm; OS: (92.79 ± 22.00) µm and (80.43 ± 10.09) µm] and craniopharyngiomas group [OD: (94.96 ± 16.59) µm and (86.46 ± 11.65) µm; OS: (94.92 ± 15.77) µm and (86.77 ± 9.56) µm] were thinner. There was statistically significant difference of pRNFL and GCC, among the three tumor groups, and the thickness of pRNFL and GCC of the meningiomas group was the thinnest (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The average thickness of the pRNFL and GCC is correlated with vision field damage, which can be used to evaluate optic nerve damage of saddle area tumor patients quantitatively, where the meningiomas was the most significant. The thickness of the pRNFL and GCC was thinner, and the damage to visual functions was more serious. In the three tumor groups, the meningiomas group was the most serious. In the clinic, visual field test combined with OCT were helpful to find and assess the damage to visual pathway and prognosis.
