Abstract
We describe an MRI technique for quantifying optic nerve atrophy resulting from a single episode of unilateral optic neuritis. We imaged 17 patients, with a median time since onset of optic neuritis of 21 months (range 3–81 months), using a coronal-oblique fat-saturated short-echo fast fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery (sTE fFLAIR) sequence. The mean cross-sectional area of the intraorbital portion of the optic nerves was calculated by a blinded observer from five consecutive 3 mm slices from the orbital apex forwards using a semiautomated contouring technique and compared with data from 16 controls. The mean optic nerve area was 11.2mm2 in the affected eye of the patients, 12.9mm2 in the contralateral eye (P = 0.006 compared to the affected eye) and 12.8mm2 in controls (P = 0.03 compared to the affected eyes). There was a significant negative correlation between disease duration and the size of the affected optic nerve (r = –0.59, P = 0.012). The measurement coefficient of variation was 4.8 %. The sTE fFLAIR sequence enables measurement of optic nerve area with sufficient reproducibility to show optic nerve atrophy following a single episode of unilateral optic neuritis. The correlation of increasing optic nerve atrophy with disease duration would be consistent with ongoing axonal loss in a persistently demyelinated lesion, or Wallerian degeneration following axonal damage during the acute inflammatory phase.
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Received: 1 March 2000 Accepted: 10 May 2000
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Hickman, S., Brex, P., Brierley, C. et al. Detection of optic nerve atrophy following a single episode of unilateral optic neuritis by MRI using a fat-saturated short-echo fast FLAIR sequence. Neuroradiology 43, 123–128 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s002340000450
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s002340000450