Effect of fingolimod (FTY720) on choroidal thickness in patients with multiple sclerosis

Objective: Using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), to compare the choroidal thickness in a healthy population (group 1), with newly diagnosed multiple sclerosis (MS) patients (group 2), with MS patients who underwent beta-interferon monotherapy (group 3) and MS patients who underwent fingolimod therapy for 1 year (group 4) Methods: Twenty-five control subjects (25 eyes), 24 newly diagnosed (24 eyes) MS patients, 22 MS patients who underwent fingolimod monotherapy for 1 year (22 eyes), and 24 MS patients who underwent beta-interferon monotherapy for 1 year (24 eyes) were included in this study. The control group consisted of age- and gender matched healthy individuals. The choroidal thickness measurements were performed using a high-speed and high-resolution SD-OCT device. The choroidal thickness measurements were compared using a One Way Anova and Post-Hoc Tukey test. Results: Ninety-five eyes of 95 participants were included in this study. The mean age of the control group was 27.83 +/- 4.60, and it was 26.83 +/- 6.79, 27.87 +/- 6. 46 and 27.58 +/- 6.65 in the newly diagnosed MS group, fingolimod group and beta-interferon group, respectively. In fingolimod group N-1000, N-1500 and T-1500 was significantly lower than control group. (p = 0.026, p = 0.06 p = 0.13) Conclusion: Choroidal thickness values at N-1000, N-1500 and T-1500 levels in fingolimod group were found lower than in control but higher than in newly diagnosed MS group. This result can be explained with the therapeutic effect of the fingolimod on MS.