Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2008 Aug;115(8):1366-71, 1371.e1.
doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2007.12.004.

Optical coherence tomography measurements and analysis methods in optical coherence tomography studies of diabetic macular edema

David J Browning  1 , Adam R Glassman, Lloyd P Aiello, Neil M Bressler, Susan B Bressler, Ronald P Danis, Matthew D Davis, Frederick L Ferris, Suber S Huang, Peter K Kaiser, Craig Kollman, Srinavas Sadda, Ingrid U Scott, Haijing Qin; Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network
Collaborators, Affiliations

Optical coherence tomography measurements and analysis methods in optical coherence tomography studies of diabetic macular edema

David J Browning et al. Ophthalmology. 2008 Aug.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate optical coherence tomography (OCT) measurements and methods of analysis of OCT data in studies of diabetic macular edema (DME).

Design: Associations of pairs of OCT variables and results of 3 analysis methods using data from 2 studies of DME.

Participants: Two hundred sixty-three subjects from a study of modified Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study (mETDRS) versus modified macular grid (MMG) photocoagulation for DME and 96 subjects from a study of diurnal variation of DME.

Methods: Correlations were calculated for pairs of OCT variables at baseline and for changes in the variables over time. Distribution of OCT measurement changes, predictive factors for OCT measurement changes, and treatment group outcomes were compared when 3 measures of change in macular thickness were analyzed: absolute change in retinal thickness, relative change in retinal thickness, and relative change in retinal thickening.

Main outcome measures: Concordance of results using different OCT variables and analysis methods.

Results: Center point thickness correlated highly with central subfield mean thickness (CSMT) at baseline (0.98-0.99). The distributions of changes in CSMT were approximately normally distributed for absolute change in retinal thickness and relative change in retinal thickness, but not for relative change in retinal thickening. Macular thinning in the mETDRS group was significantly greater than in the MMG group when absolute change in retinal thickness was used, but not when relative change in thickness and relative change in thickening were used. Relative change in macular thickening provides unstable data in eyes with mild degrees of baseline thickening, unlike the situation with absolute or relative change in retinal thickness.

Conclusions: Central subfield mean thickness is the preferred OCT measurement for the central macula because of its higher reproducibility and correlation with other measurements of the central macula. Total macular volume may be preferred when the central macula is less important. Absolute change in retinal thickness is the preferred analysis method in studies involving eyes with mild macular thickening. Relative change in thickening may be preferable when retinal thickening is more severe.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A. Distribution of absolute change in thickness for the modified Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study versus Modified Macular Grid photocoagulation trial (N=272). B. Distribution of absolute change in thickness for the diurnal variation study (N=156).
Figure 1
Figure 1
A. Distribution of absolute change in thickness for the modified Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study versus Modified Macular Grid photocoagulation trial (N=272). B. Distribution of absolute change in thickness for the diurnal variation study (N=156).
Figure 2
Figure 2
A. Distribution of relative change in thickness for the modified Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study versus Modified Macular Grid photocoagulation trial (N=272). B. Distribution of relative change in thickness for the diurnal variation study (N=156).
Figure 2
Figure 2
A. Distribution of relative change in thickness for the modified Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study versus Modified Macular Grid photocoagulation trial (N=272). B. Distribution of relative change in thickness for the diurnal variation study (N=156).
Figure 3
Figure 3
A. Distribution of relative change in thickening for the modified Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study versus Modified Macular Grid photocoagulation trial (N=263). Excludes nine eyes where the baseline central subfield mean thickness (CSMT) was below the normal value (=202 microns). B. Distribution of relative change in thickening for the diurnal variation study (N=156)..
Figure 3
Figure 3
A. Distribution of relative change in thickening for the modified Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study versus Modified Macular Grid photocoagulation trial (N=263). Excludes nine eyes where the baseline central subfield mean thickness (CSMT) was below the normal value (=202 microns). B. Distribution of relative change in thickening for the diurnal variation study (N=156)..
Figure 4
Figure 4
Relative change in central subfield thickening from 8AM to 4 PM by 8AM central subfield thickness in the diurnal variation study (N=156).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Absolute change in central subfield mean thickness from 8AM to 4 PM by 8AM central subfield mean thickness in the diurnal variation study (N=156).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Hee MR, Puliafito CA, Wong C, et al. Quantitative assessment of macular edema with optical coherence tomography. Arch Ophthalmol. 1995;113:1019–1029. - PubMed
    1. Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network. Diurnal variation in retinal thickening measurement by optical coherence tomography in center-involved diabetic macular edema. Arch Ophthalmol. 2006;124:1701–1707. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network. Relationship between optical coherence tomography-measured central retinal thickness and visual acuity in diabetic macular edema. Ophthalmology. 2007;114:525–536. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pons ME, Garcia-Valenzuela E. Redefining the limit of the outer retina in optical coherence tomography scans. Ophthalmology. 2005;112:1079–1085. - PubMed
    1. Pircher M, Götzinger E, Findl O, et al. Human macula investigated in vivo with polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2006;47:5487–5494. - PubMed

Publication types