Secondary Involvement of Optic Radiation in Lebers Hereditary Optic Neuropathy

Giovanni Rizzo¹, David Neil Manners¹, Caterina Tonon¹, Claudia Testa¹, Emil Malucelli¹, Maria Lucia Valentino², Chiara La Morgia², Piero Barboni², Bruno Barbiroli¹, Valerio Carelli², Raffaele Lodi¹

Objectives. To use DWI to investigate the optic radiation in LHON patients and healthy carriers. Methods. MD maps from 22 LHON patients, 11 healthy carriers and 22 healthy controls were generated. ROIs at level of optic radiations were delineated. Results. OR MD values of patients were higher than in healthy carriers and healthy controls. Increased diffusivity was associated with both a history of lack of recovery of visual acuity and disease duration. Conclusions. We confirmed a retrochiasmatic involvement in LHON patients, which seems to be a secondary phenomenon, reflecting a downstream rather than a primary effect of the mitochondrial dysfunction.