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Ability of Swept-source OCT and OCT-angiography to detect neuroretinal and vasculature changes in patients with Parkinson disease and essential tremor

Eye volume 37, pages 1314–1319 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives

To evaluate the ability of swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) implemented with angiography analysis (SS-OCTA) to detect neuro-retinal and vasculature changes in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and essential tremor (ET), and to distinguish between both pathologies.

Subjects/Methods

A total 42 PD and 26 ET patients and 146 controls underwent retinal evaluation using SS-OCT plus OCT-Angio™. The macular (m) and peripapillary (p) retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and ganglion cell layer (GCL), and macular vasculature were assessed. A Linear discriminant function (LDF) was calculated to evaluate the diagnostic ability of SS-OCTA in both PD and ET.

Results

PD patients presented a reduction in mRNFL (p < 0.005), mGCL (all sectors, p < 0.05) and pRNFL (p < 0.005) vs healthy controls, and in mRNFL and pRNFL vs ET patients (p < 0.001). ET patients showed a significant reduction in mGCL vs controls (p < 0.001). No differences were observed in the macular vasculature between groups. Predictive diagnostic variables were significant only for PD and a LDF was obtained with an area under the ROC curve of 0.796.

Conclusions

Neuro-retinal thinning is present in both diseases, being greater in PD. While SS-OCT could be useful in diagnosing ET and PD, the diagnostic potential for SS-OCTA based on an LDF applies only to PD, not ET.

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Fig. 1: Vasculature analysis obtained using Triton (Topcon, Japan) SS-OCT angiography in a healthy subject included in the study.
Fig. 2: Macular measurements of the ganglion cell layer in controls, Parkinson’s disease (PD), and essential tremor (ET) patients.

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Data availability

Data supporting the conclusions of this study will be available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.

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Funding

This research received no specific funding from any agency in the commercial or not-for-profit sectors. This paper was supported by PI17/01726, PI17/01946 and PI20/00437 (Carlos III Health Institute), and by MAT2017-83858-C2-2 and PID2020-113281RB-C22 MINECO/AEI/ERDF, EU. MS was supported by the Juan Rodes program (Carlos III Health Institute, CM17/00010).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ophthalmology Department, Miguel Servet University Hospital, Zaragoza, Spain

    Maria Satue, Luisa Castro, Elisa Vilades, Beatriz Cordon & Elena Garcia-Martin

  2. Miguel Servet Ophthalmology Research and Innovation Group (GIMSO), Aragon Institute for Health Research (IIS Aragón), Zaragoza University, Zaragoza, Spain

    Maria Satue, Luisa Castro, Elisa Vilades, Beatriz Cordon & Elena Garcia-Martin

  3. Neurology Department, Miguel Servet University Hospital, Zaragoza, Spain

    Jose M. Errea & Ana Pueyo

  4. Parkinson’s Association of Aragon Integral Rehabilitation Center, Zaragoza, Spain

    Eva Pilar Chueca

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  1. Maria Satue
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Contributions

MS was responsible for the conception and design, interpretation of data, drafting of paper and final approval of the version to be published. LC, AP, EV, BC and JME carried out the acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data, critical revision of draft and the final approval of the version to be published. EMC and EGM were responsible for the conception and design, interpretation of data, critical revision of draft and final approval of the version to be published: All authors discussed the results and commented on the paper.

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Correspondence to Maria Satue.

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Satue, M., Castro, L., Vilades, E. et al. Ability of Swept-source OCT and OCT-angiography to detect neuroretinal and vasculature changes in patients with Parkinson disease and essential tremor. Eye 37, 1314–1319 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41433-022-02112-4

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