Evaluation of epicardial fat tissue thickness in patients with multiple sclerosis

Aim: Multiple sclerosis (MS), which is inflammatory in its pathogenesis, damages the myelin sheath in the central nervous system (CNS) and causes axonal loss. Epicardial fat tissue (EFT), located between the myocardium and the visceral layer of the pericardium, surrounds the heart and several inflammatory cytokines is secreted from this tissue. In this study, we aimed to investigate EFT thickness in MS patients and compared with that of volunteer non-MS subjects. Methods: A total of 154 subjects comprising 61 MS patients and 93 volunteers matched for gender and age were included in our study.  Epicardial fat tissue thickness was measured by echocardiography. All values were compared between groups. Results: Echocardiographic parameters were similar in both groups. However, the mean EFT thickness was significantly higher in the MS group than in the control group (p<0.001). Epicardial fat tissue thickness was also significantly correlated with the presence of MS (r=0.33, p<0.001). Conclusion: The results of our study suggest that the increase in epicardial adipose tissue thickness in MS patients may be a predictive factor for cardiovascular disease. However, the clinical significance of this finding and its relevance to MS pathogenesis should be investigated in further studies

Evaluation of retinal nerve fiber layer and ganglion cell layer thicknesses with optical coherence tomography in patients with vitamin B12 deficiency

Aim: We aimed to compare the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and ganglion cell layer (GCL) thickness of B12 vitamin deficiency patients with healthy controls using optical coherence tomography (OCT). Methods: Forty-six patients (27 females / 19 males) diagnosed with B12 vitamin deficiency and 46 healthy controls (26 females / 20 males) with similar age and sex were included in the study. RNFL thickness of global, superotemporal, temporal, inferotemporal, superonasal, nasal and inferonasal sectors and GCL thickness and volume measurements of central, superior, inferior, temporal, and nasal sectors were performed using Spectralis-OCT device in all cases. Results: The mean age of the patient group was 42.17±15.34 years, while that of the control group was 44.21±12.34 years (p=0.528). Mean serum vitamin B12 levels were measured as 163,47±19,80 pg/ml in the patient group and 311,80±76,30 pg/ml in the control group (p <0,01). There was no statistically significant difference between the global RNFL thicknesses of the two groups (p> 0,05). However, statistically non-significant thinning was observed in the superotemporal and global RNFL thickness of the group with B12 vitamin deficiency (p values are 0,140 and 0,171, respectively). There was also no statistically significant difference between GCL thicknesses and volumes of the two groups (p> 0.05). Conclusions: No significant reduction was observed in RNFL and GCL thicknesses of adult subjects with B12 vitamin deficiency compared with healthy controls