Advanced MRI imaging (diffusion tensor imaging, DTI; functional MRI, fMRI; and resting-state fMRI, rs-fMRI) and retinal imaging (optical coherence tomography, OCT) were tested longitudinally in a small group of Friedreich’s ataxia patients participating in an open-label clinical trial testing the safety and the efficacy of 6-month treatment with interferon gamma.
Preliminary data encourage the use of MRI, in particular fMRI, as a non-invasive method to monitor treatment response in FRDA and to achieve a better understanding of the physiology behind the observed treatment-induced effects.