Optical Coherence Tomography in the diagnosis of Neuro-Ophthalmic Pathologies

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has gone a long way since its first scientific description more than two decades ago. It has revolutionized the fields of vitreo-retinal diagnostics and surgery, facilitated the treatment of retinal and chorioretinal vascular diseases and may potentially play an important role in glaucoma diagnostics. However, there is a growing body of evidence that there are retinal changes present also in neuro-ophthalmic pathologies which may help the early diagnosis and also the follow-up of these diseases, with the potential to be used as a primary end point in clinical trials. Besides the lesions of the optic tract, OCT may show characteristic changes in multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson disease and various other conditions. Besides the circumpapillary RNFL measurements, the latest OCT devices are capable of giving quantitative data about macular cellular structures which may also be promising targets for the practicing neuro-ophthalmologist.