Macular morphology and circumpapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in Parkinson's disease evaluated by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography

Abstract

Objective To observe the macular morphology and circumpapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFL) in Parkinson's disease (PD) evaluated by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Methods A total of 37 patients (74 eyes) with PD were in the PD group, 32 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects (64 eyes) in the control group. All subjects underwent SD-OCT examination with 5 line scanning, macular cube 512×128 scanning and optic disc volume 200×200 scanning. The retinal thickness, central foveal thickness (CFT), macular volume and thickness of circumpapillary, superior, inferior, nasal, and temporal of RNFL between two groups were comparatively analyzed. The relationship between SD-OCT parameters and age, disease duration, scores of Hoehn-Yahr and unified PD rating scale (UPDRS) in PD patients was analyzed by Pearson correlation analysis. Results Both of the retinal thickness and macular volume in PD group were significantly reduced than those in control group (t= -2.546, -3.410; P=0.012, 0.001). There was no difference of CFT (t= -0.463, P=0.644) and the thickness of circumpapillary (t = -1.645, P=0.102), superior (t= -0.775, P=0.439), inferior (t=-1.844, P=0.067), nasal (t= -0.344, P=0.732) and temporal (t= -0.541, P=0.590) of RNFL between two groups. The retinal thickness, macular volume, CFT and the thickness of circumpapillary, superior, inferior, nasal, temporal of RNFL had no relationship with age, disease duration and scores of Hoehn-Yahr and UPDRS in PD patients (P>0.05). Conclusions In PD patients, the retinal thickness and macular volume are decreased, however, the circumpapillary RNFL have no obvious alterations. Key words: Parkinson disease/diagnosis; Macula lutea/pathology; Nerve fibers/pathology; Retina/physiopathology; Tomography, optical coherence/utilization