Optical Coherence Tomography Identifies Visual Pathway Involvement Earlier than Visual Function Tests in Children with MRI-Verified Optic Pathway Gliomas

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Retrograde degeneration of the eye’s retinal ganglion cells, causing visual loss and even blindness, is a feared consequence of optic pathway gliomas. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a patient-friendly, high-resolution imaging technique enabling objective measurements of the integrity of the retinal ganglion cell layer. Children with optic pathway glioma unable to complete formal visual field testing and/or reliable visual acuity testing, may undergo OCT, providing objective information about visual loss and potential clinical progression. By combining visual functional measurements with OCT findings, the clinical examination will be safer and more reliable. By improving the clinical follow-up of the tumor, the treatment choices can be optimized thereby preventing further visual loss and, in the worst case, blindness. ABSTRACT: This study investigates whether optical coherence tomography (OCT) could add useful information in the examination of children with optic pathway glioma (OPG) at high risk of developing vision loss. For this purpose, the relationship between ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (GC-IPL) thickness and visual function, evaluated with tests of visual acuity (VA) and visual field (VF), as well as tumor site according to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), were examined in a geographically defined group of children with OPG. Methods: Children aged <18 years with OPG underwent ophthalmic examination including VA, VF (Zeiss HFA perimetry) and OCT imaging (Zeiss Cirrus HD-OCT). Results: Out of 51 patients included, 45 provided 77 eyes with MRI-verified OPG, and 19 patients provided 25 eyes without OPG. Significant correlations were found between GC-IPL, VF and VA (p < 0.001). The GC-IPL pattern loss corresponded in 95% to VF defects and in 92% to MRI findings. Conclusions: Our study indicates that GC-IPL measures could serve as an early marker of vision-threatening changes related to OPG and as a valuable link between MRI and visual function tests. Thinning of GC-IPL and differences in topography between eyes are strong indicators of and predictive of vision loss related to OPG.