The correlation between the pathologic fatigue and Ganglion cell layer and Retinal nerve fiber layer in patients with multiple sclerosis

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, neuro-inflammatory disorder of the central nervous system. One of the most prevalent and incapacitating symptoms of MS is fatigue, which is described as a "significant lack of physical and/or mental energy." Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive method of imaging of retina which produces high-resolution cross-sectional images. We conducted this study to determine how the OCT results in tiredness scores scales of MS patients. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on random 55 RRMS patients. EDSS and following primary tests including MFIS, T25FWT, 9HPT and SDMT measured fatigue.The OCT measurement was carried out at the Nikookari Ophthalmology Hospital's OCT. The first involved measuring the peripapillary Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer (RNFL) in the quadrants of the peripapillary area: superior (SUP-RNFL), inferior (INF-RNFL), temporal (TMP-RNFL), and nasal (NAS-RNFL). The second was the macular mapping procedure, which enables the assessment of the ganglion cell layer (GCL) and the macular RNFL (mRNFL). To assess any significant differences, we compared OCT data from ON and NON patients. Results: pRNFL-NAS had the strongest correlation to the study's clinical testing, with ON eyes showing the most correlation. The MFIS-PS, SDMT, and SDMT clinical tests have the highest correlations with OCT results. Age, the duration of the disease, MFSI-P, MFSI-C, and T25FWT results were not significantly correlated with OCT results. Additionally, neither the mRNFL nor GCL showed a meaningful connection with the clinical testing. The association between SDMT and pRNFL-NAS, which is 0.60, is the most significant one discovered in this study.