Abstract #1135

Optic Radiation DTI Measures of White Matter Integrity Inversely Correlate with Visual Acuity in MS

Robert A. Bermel¹, Jian Lin², Ken Sakaie², Natasha Frost³, Jeffrey A. Cohen¹, Mark J. Lowe², Micheal D. Phillips²

¹Neurological Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA; ²Imaging Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA; ³Neurology, Dean Neurosciences, Madison, WI, USA

DTI in the optic radiations (OR) was evaluated in fourteen patients who also underwent optical coherence tomography (OCT) and Sloan low-contrast (2.5%) visual acuity testing. DTI was acquired at 3T with 71 gradient directions. The OR were identified in each patient by fiber tracking between the lateral geniculate nucleus and occipital cortex. Longitudinal diffusivity (r=-0.62, p=0.008) and transverse diffusivity (r=-0.49, p=0.038) in the OR correlated with low-contrast visual acuity. There was no significant correlation between OCT and visual acuity or OCT and DTI measures. DTI is a clinically relevant measure of pathway-specific white matter integrity.