The Importance of Multidisciplinary Approaches in the Use of Optical Coherence Tomography in Psychiatry

Neuroimaging methods are not yet available as diagnostic tool or response to treatment, but play an important role in our efforts to understand the etiopathogenesis of disorder. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a novel imaging method that can capture biological tissue layers by acquiring high-resolution sections. This technique measures the delay time and intensity of infrared light, which is transmitted to and reflected from different tissue layers. It gives cross-sectional images of tissues similar to, but with much higher resolution than ultrasonography. In last decades, its use was expanded to neurodegenerative diseases because the retina is an anatomical extension of the brain, and retinal changes may occur in parallel with inflammation and central nerve system degeneration. OCT has shown retinal changes in psychiatric disorders. However, there is a significant shortcoming in studies investigating the relationship between OCT and psychiatry. Some studies are performed only by psychiatrists, while others are only by ophthalmologists. Although the OCT-related psychiatry studies have intriguing purposes, this condition cause some troubles regarding the psychiatric literature, methodology, interpretation of results in research. In this letter to the editor, we suggested that further studies with a multidisciplinary approach, including psychiatry, may lead to less confounding factors and will be able to provide a better interpretation of the results.