ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT07802769EVOLUTIONUpdated Sep 3, 2026

Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Cerebral Connectivity and Volume in Neurodegeneration and Glaucoma

An interventional study of MRI in Glaucoma, sponsored by University Hospital, Bordeaux. Recruiting at 1 site in France. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-03.

Sponsored by University Hospital, Bordeaux · Not applicable, Interventional, and Other

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Aug 2026; still recruiting 2 months later.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
100
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The EVOLUTION is a 10-year extension of the ENVOL study. It seeks to compare the evolution of structural and functional connectivity (Hub Disruption Index) and cerebral volume on 3T MRI of the brain in glaucoma patients and matched controls. The study aims to examine the hypothesis that glaucomatous optic neuropathy is not limited solely to the visual pathway, but rather is associated with a broader degeneration of the central nervous system.

Read the detailed description

Glaucoma is a neurodegenerative disease characterised by a progressive loss of retinal ganglion cells, typical optic neuropathy with a loss of visual field and visual function. High intraocular pressure is it's main risk factor, but the patophysiology hasn't been clearely understood, as there exist forms with normal ocular pressure (NTG - normal tension glaucoma) or mixed forms. Studies have shown that the degeneration is not limited to retinal ganglion cells only, but rather it affects the whole visual pathway including the occipital cortex. The ENVOL study has been able to show microstructural alterations of the optic radiations in glaucoma. Furthermore, glaucomatous patients have been found to be more at risk of developing other neurodegenerative diseases, namely Alzheimer's disease.

The EVOLUTION study is set to repeat 3T brain MRI in patients previously enrolled in ENVOL in order to compare brain microstructure between glaucomatous and matched healthy subjects, assess their ocular status and glaucoma progression over time, as well as compare them with orignal imagery from 10 years prior.

gression over time, as well as compare them with orignal imagery from 10 years prior.

Study subjects will undergo a typical non-invasive ophthalmic screening comprised of best-corrected visual acuity testing, slit-lamp biomicroscopy, gonioscopy, indirect opthalmoscopy, fundus photography, 30° visual field testing and optical coherence tomography of the optic nerve. They will also answer a questionnaire concerning their medical treatment, cardiovascular health and tobacco use. Next, they will undergo a 3T brain MRI comprised of a T1-weighted 3D morphological sequence, 3D FLAIR, resting state fMRI and diffusion tensor imaging.

fMRI and diffusion tensor imaging

02

Conditions studied

  • Glaucoma

Keywords

  • glaucoma
  • magnetic resonance imaging
  • neurodegeneration
  • structural connectomics
03

In context

Glaucoma

1,419 studies on the registry are indexed under Glaucoma; 223 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 100 is above the median of 61 across 964 interventional studies indexed under Glaucoma.

Browse Glaucoma studies →

Lead sponsor

University Hospital, Bordeaux is the lead sponsor of 806 studies on the registry; 197 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • having been previously included and completed the ENVOL study
  • Ability and willingness to provide
  • Having a valid health insurance in France

In glaucoma group :

  • Glaucomatous optic neuropathy, being able to be graded by the vertical C/D ratio
  • Open angle on gonioscopy in a dark-room testing according to Shaffer's classification (grade 3 or grade 4)
  • Visual field impairement (at least one of the following) :

    • 3 adjacent points with at least 5dB loss
    • one point with a loss of 10dB
    • a difference of at least 10 dB for 2 adjacent points on either side of the horizontal meridian of the nasal visual field
  • Mini Mental State Score of at least 28

In control group :

  • No personal or family history of glaucoma or ocular hypertension (IOP > 21 mmHg)
  • Open angle on gonioscopy in a dark-room testing according to Shaffer's classification (grade 3 or grade 4)
  • Intraocular pressure of ≤ 21 mmHg
  • Absence of glaucomatous neuropathy
  • Normal visual field

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Inability/unwillingness to provide
  • Other causes of ocular hypertension (trauma, uveitis)
  • Non-glaucomatous optic neuropathy (infectious, inflammatory, compressive, ischemic)
  • Unreliable visual field (>15% false positives, >33% false negatives or >20% loss of fixation)
  • Severe corneal pathology preventing access to fundus, visual field testing or altering ocular tonometry
  • to MRI testing (pacemakers or neurosensory stimulators, cochlear implants, ferromagnetic foreign bodies, claustrophobia)
  • Patients under guardianship or other form of legal protection
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(2)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Contraindication

A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Other
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
100 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Patient with glaucoma

    Patient with glaucoma

    Device: MRI

  • Active comparator
    Patient without glaucoma

    Patient without glaucoma

    Device: MRI

Interventions

  • DeviceMRI

    MRI

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. structural and functional connectivity matrices

    10-year whole brain comparison of structural and functional connectivity matrices (Hub Disruption Index) on 3T MRI in glaucoma patients and controls from the ENVOL study

    Time frame: Baseline

Secondary outcomes

  1. microstructural changes

    Comparison of microstructural changes on diffusion MRI within the whole brain and by specific regions (white matter, gray matter, hippocampus, amygdala, occipital cortex) between the 2 groups (voxel-by-voxel analysis)

    Time frame: Baseline

  2. cerebral volumes

    Comparison of cerebral volumes (total volume of cerebral parenchyma), and volumes of specific regions (white matter, gray matter, hippocampus, amygdala, occipital cortex) between the 2 groups

    Time frame: Baseline

  3. Evolution of the above parameters

    Comparison of evolution of the above parameters over a 10-year period between the ENVOL study and EVOLUTION follow-up study (microstructural changes on diffusion MRI within the whole brain and by specific regions (white matter, gray matter, hippocampus, amygdala, occipital cortex), cerebral volumes (total volume of cerebral parenchyma), and volumes of specific regions (white matter, gray matter, hippocampus, amygdala, occipital cortex)).

    Time frame: Baseline

  4. Demographic factors

    Identication of demographic that could be associated with overall degenerative impairment as measured in the primary objective and secondary objectives above

    Time frame: Baseline

  5. Ophthalmological factors

    Ophthalmological factors, notably characterization of the type of glaucoma (normal pressure, high pressure) that could be associated with overall degenerative impairment as measured in the primary objective and secondary objectives above

    Time frame: Baseline

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Sep 3, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07802769
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Sep 3, 2026
Start date
Aug 28, 2026
Primary completion
May 2027 (estimated)
Completion
May 2027 (estimated)
Last update
Sep 3, 2026

Study contacts

Cedrick Schweitzer, MD, PhD
Contact
cedric.schweitzer@chu-bordeaux.fr
+335 56 79 55 30

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Interested in this study?

Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.

Contact study team

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Start the discussion