Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Retinal nerve changes in patients with tremor dominant and akinetic rigid Parkinson’s disease

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Neurological Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Parkinson disease is a multisystem neurodegenerative disease which involves not only basal ganglia and extrapyramidal system but also many other neurologic systems such as retinal ganglion cells. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive method for assessment of retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness and its changes in different diseases. To evaluate the RNFL thickness in patients with Parkinson disease (PD), we performed OCT in patients with PD and compared it with a control group. From October 2010 to July 2011, 27 PD patients (54 eyes) and 25 healthy persons (50 eyes) were entered to this analytical cross-sectional study according to the defined criteria. PD patients were categorized into two groups “akinetic rigid (AR) and tremor dominant (TD)”. RNFL was divided into four quadrants and was assessed by OCT. Afterwards; the data were analyzed by bivariate and multivariate models. The RNFL thickness in PD was significantly lower than the control group. Also, the thicknesses of inferior and nasal quadrants of RNFL in TD group were significantly more than AR group. According to these findings, OCT can be used as a sensitive and objective marker for assessment of early neurodegenerative changes of PD and early initiation of neuroprotective treatments. Future studies with adequate sample sizes are recommended to investigate interactions between age, distribution of the disease and type of PD as well as the effects of individual factors.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Djamgoz MB, Hankins MW, Hirano J, Archer SN (1997) Neurobiology of retinal dopamine in relation to degenerative states of the tissue. Vision Res 37:3509–3529

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Korell M, Tanner C (2005) Epidemiology of Parkinson’s disease. In: Ebadi M, Pfeiffer R (eds) Parkinson’s disease. CRC Press, New York, pp 39–50

    Google Scholar 

  3. Braak H, Del Tredici K, Bratzke H et al (2002) Staging of the intracerebral inclusion body pathology associated with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (preclinical and clinical stages). J Neurol 249:1–5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Bodis-Wollner I (2002) Visualizing the next steps in Parkinson disease. Arch Neurol 59:1233–1234

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Diederich NJ, Raman R, Leurgans S, Goetz CG (2002) Progressive worsening of spatial and chromatic processing deficits in Parkinson’s disease. Arch Neurol 59:1249–1252

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Hajee ME et al (2009) Inner retinal layer thinning in Parkinson disease. Arch Ophthalmol 127(6):737–741

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Altintas O (2008) Correlation between retinal morphological and functional findings and clinical severity in Parkinson’s disease. Doc Ophthalmol 116:137–146

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Bodis-Wollner Ivan (2009) Retinopathy in Parkinson disease. J Neural Transm 116:1493–1501

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Inzelberg R, Ramirez JA, Niisipeanu P, Ophir A (2004) Retinal nerve fiber layer thinning in Parkinson disease. Vis Res 44:2793–2797

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Parisi V, Manni G, Sparado M, Colacino G, Restuccia R, Marchi S, Bucci MG, Pierelli F (1999) Correlation between morphological and functional retinal impairment in multiple sclerosis patients. Invest Ophthal Vis Sci 40:2520–2527

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Kanamori A, Nakamura M, Escano MF, Seya R, Maeda H, Negi A (2003) Evaluation of glaucomatous damage of retinal nerve fiber layer thickness measured by optical coherence tomography. Am J Ophthalmol 135:513–520

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Hughes AJ et al (1992) Accuracy of clinical diagnosis of idiopathic Parkinson’s disease: a clinico-pathological study of 100 cases. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 55:181–184

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Lewis SJ, Foltynie T, Blackwell AD et al (2005) Heterogeneity of Parkinson’s disease in the early clinical stages using a data driven approach. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 76:343–348

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Harnois C, Di Paolo T (1990) Decreased dopamine in the retinas of patients with Parkinson_s disease. Invest Ophthal Vis Sci 31:2473–2475

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Onofrj M, Bodis-Wollner I (1982) Dopaminergic deficiency causes delayed VEPs in rats. Ann Neurol 11:484–490

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Masson G, Mestre D, Blin O (1993) Dopaminergic modulation of visual sensitivity in man. Fundam Clin Pharmacol 7(8):449–463

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Nowacka B, Lubiński W, Karczewicz D (2010) Ophthalmological and electrophysiological features of Parkinson’s disease. Klin Oczna 112(7–9):247–252

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Rohani, Arash Sefidkar Langroodi & Gholamali Shahidi

  2. Students’ Scientific Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Shadi Ghourchian

  3. Department of Ophthalmology, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Khalil Ghasemi Falavarjani & Reza SoUdi

Authors
  1. Mohammad Rohani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Arash Sefidkar Langroodi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Shadi Ghourchian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Khalil Ghasemi Falavarjani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Reza SoUdi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Gholamali Shahidi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shadi Ghourchian.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rohani, M., Langroodi, A.S., Ghourchian, S. et al. Retinal nerve changes in patients with tremor dominant and akinetic rigid Parkinson’s disease. Neurol Sci 34, 689–693 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-012-1125-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-012-1125-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation