Optical coherence tomography as a possible tool to monitor and predict disease progression in mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an imaging technique used to obtain three-dimensional information on the retina. In this article, we evaluated the structural neuro-retinal abnormalities, especially the thickness in the ganglion cell complex (GCC), in patients with mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes (MELAS). The GCC thickness in MELAS patients was significantly thinner than that in normal controls even when they had no history of transient homonymous hemianopia. There was a negative correlation between GCC thickness and disease duration. In conclusion, OCT may be an effective tool to monitor and predict disease progression in MELAS patients.