Retinal biomarker enables earlier MS diagnosis

Austrian researchers have demonstrated that diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) can be significantly improved by measuring the thickness of retinal layers in the eye. Use of the procedure helps to detect the condition at an earlier stage and predict its progression more accurately, leading to an increase in the chance of improved patient outcomes. The team’s findings have been published in the journal Neurology.

MS is an autoimmune, chronic inflammatory disease that causes inflammation and loss of nerve cells throughout the nervous system. Patients are often unable to feel the consequences of this damage to begin with and so the condition often goes undiagnosed until a late stage, meaning that valuable time is lost during which effective treatment could have been administered. Medical researchers have thus been trying to find improved detection methods for some time, in order to help avert serious consequences such as impaired mobility and blindness.

As part of their latest investigation, researchers from the Medical University of Vienna (MedUni Vienna) and University Hospital Vienna collaborated to examine 267 MS patients over a period of five years. Their research built on study results published in 2022, which showed that MS relapse-related damage to the retina reflects the degree of damage caused to the patient’s brain. The previous study also demonstrated that a 5 µm reduction in the thickness of the retinal layer following optic neuritis indicated a doubling of the risk of permanent disability after the next relapse. Thanks to the latest study with the large cohort of MS patients, the research team has confirmed that the thickness of the retinal layer can be used as a precise biomarker to assist early diagnosis.

The researchers used a procedure known as optical coherence tomography (OCT) to measure the thickness of the retinal layer. An imaging method that uses infrared light, OCT allows for the generation of high-resolution, three-dimensional images of extremely thin layers of tissue measuring just a few micrometres. OCT is also a tool for diagnosing and evaluating the progression of eye diseases such as glaucoma.

“We already have this procedure at our disposal,” said Gabriel Bsteh, first author of the study. “If we use optical coherence tomography alongside the current criteria to diagnose MS, we obtain significantly more accurate results at a much earlier stage. This means we can initiate treatment measures sooner, which considerably improves the long-term prognosis for patients.”

With the new procedure already in use at MedUni Vienna and University Hospital Vienna, the next phases of research will focus on the importance of retinal layer thickness in measuring responses to MS treatment.

Image credit: iStock.com/Brian Jackson