Correlação entre sintomas motores, não-motores e cognitivos na doença de Parkinson com as medidas de espessura da retina obtidas pela tomografia de coerência óptica

Abstract

Introduction: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive technique that allows detailed study of retinal layers. Originally used in ophthalmology, OCT also shows promising applications in the evaluation of neurological diseases due to embryological and histological similarities between the retina and the brain. Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by motor and non-motor symptoms. Retinal changes observed by OCT may correlate with the progression of these symptoms. Objective: To measure the total retinal thickness and the thickness of the inner and outer retinal layers in PD patients and healthy controls, and to demonstrate the correlation of these measurements with motor, non-motor, and cognitive symptoms of PD. Methods: This is a cross-sectional observational study, with a sample consisting of 46 eyes of 23 patients with PD and 40 eyes of 20 healthy controls. The average age of patients with PD was 59 years, with a predominance of male patients (65%) and a median time since diagnosis of 8 years. Of the recruited patients with PD, 78% were in Hoehn-Yahr stages 1 or 2. Patients were recruited from the Movement Disorders Outpatient Clinic of the University Hospital of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora. Clinical, motor, non-motor and cognitive data were collected, in addition to retinal thickness measurements via OCT. Results: A thicker total retinal thickness was noted at the macular region in patients with PD compared to controls, mainly in the temporal (p=0.03) and inferior outer sectors (p=0.01). There was an increase in the thickness of the ganglion cell complex in the nasal (p=0.04) and inferior outer (p=0.01) sectors in patients with PD. Significant correlations were observed between retinal thickness and motor, non-motor and cognitive symptom scales. There was a negative correlation between the time of diagnosis and the thickness of the outer sectors of the macular region. Conclusion: The findings suggest that OCT may be a valuable non-invasive tool for early diagnosis and monitoring of PD. Further studies are needed to better understand these associations and validate the use of OCT in clinical practice