Photo Credit: Dr Microbe
The following is a summary of “Corneal nerves and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: an in vivo corneal confocal imaging study,” published in the March 2024 issue of Neurology by Khanna et al.
Despite the severity of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), diagnosing it can be challenging due to variable symptoms and a lack of definitive tests, often leading to delays of 9.1 to 27 months.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study investigating if in vivo confocal microscopy of corneal nerves could be a diagnostic tool for ALS.
They recruited ALS patients in France following the updated EI Escorial criteria (September 2021 to March 2023). Analysis of the corneal sub-basal nerve plexus was performed using in vivo confocal microscopy. The ACCMetrics automated algorithm was used to evaluate various corneal parameters such as nerve fiber density, nerve branch density, nerve fiber length, nerve fiber area, nerve total branch density, nerve fiber width, and nerve fractal dimension.
The results showed the inclusion of 22 ALS patients and 30 controls. No significant differences between ALS and control groups in all corneal parameters (P>0.05). Corneal sensitivity showed no variation between groups and no correlation between corneal nerve parameters and ALS disease duration, severity, and rate of progression (P>0.05).
Investigators concluded that in vivo corneal confocal microscopy is unreliable for early ALS diagnosis or prognosis.
Source: link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00415-024-12282-8
