Functional Connectivity in Patients with Clinically Isolated Optic Neuritis

Optic neuritis (ON) is common in MS, and visual dysfunction is a major cause of disability in MS patients. Conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques show only a loose correlation between MRI lesion burden and disability in MS, and do not capture physiologic response by the brain to injury. Resting state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) is a novel method of assessing functional connections in the brain by exploring correlations in blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) fluctuations throughout the brain, and represents a promising technique for exploring changes in brain functional connections.