Decreased retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in patients with cerebral venous thrombosis

BACKGROUND: To identify thickness variations in the retinal nerve fiber layer around the optic disc and macula in patients with cerebral vein thrombosis (CVT) without papilledema. METHODS: This study included 28 patients with CVT diagnosis and appropriate treatment. Detailed ophthalmologic examination found bilateral vision 10/10, vision field test normal and fundus examination found no papilledema images. The patients had macular and optic retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFL) measured with spectral domain-optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) (Optovue, Fremont, CA). Patients had retinal nerve fiber thickness compared with a control group. RESULTS: When the effect on the macula and RNFL near the optic nerve disk is investigated, there was significant thinning identified in the macula inferior inner, temporal inner, superior inner and temporal outer quadrants (p = 0.009, 0.001, 0.026, 0.014, respectively) and in the inferior temporal quadrant of the optic nerve disk (p = 0.020) in CVT patients compared to normal individuals. CONCLUSIONS: Even after appropriate treatment of CVT patients, axonal loss was identified with OCT. As a result, it may be important to use OCT measurements to monitor CVT treatment.