Idebenone increases chance of stabilization/recovery of visual acuity in <i>OPA1</i>‐dominant optic atrophy
Martina Romagnoli, Chiara La Morgia, Michele Carbonelli, Lidia Di Vito, Giulia Amore, Corrado Zenesini, Maria Lucia Cascavilla, Piero Barboni, Valério Carelli
Abstract
We previously documented that idebenone treatment in OPA1-Dominant Optic Atrophy (OPA1-DOA) led to some degrees of visual improvement in seven patients. We here present the results of a cohort study, which investigated the effect of off-label idebenone administration in a larger OPA1-DOA group compared with untreated patients. Inclusion criteria were: OPA1-DOA clinical and molecular diagnosis, baseline visual acuity (VA) greater than/equal to counting fingers and treatment duration greater than 7 months. We found a significant difference between the last visit and baseline VA in favor of stabilization/recovery in idebenone-treated as compared to untreated patients. This effect was retained after controlling for confounders.