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. 2014 Apr;9(2):154-61.

Peripapillary and macular choroidal thickness in glaucoma

Hamid Hosseini  1 , Naveed Nilforushan  2 , Sasan Moghimi  3 , Elena Bitrian  1 , Jay Riddle  1 , Gina Yoo Lee  1 , Joseph Caprioli  1 , Kouros Nouri-Mahdavi  1
Affiliations

Peripapillary and macular choroidal thickness in glaucoma

Hamid Hosseini et al. J Ophthalmic Vis Res. 2014 Apr.

Abstract

Purpose: To compare choroidal thickness (CT) between individuals with and without glaucomatous damage and to explore the association of peripapillary and submacular CT with glaucoma severity using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT).

Methods: Ninety-one eyes of 20 normal subjects and 43 glaucoma patients from the UCLA SD-OCT Imaging Study were enrolled. Imaging was performed using Cirrus HD-OCT. Choroidal thickness was measured at four predetermined points in the macular and peripapillary regions, and compared between glaucoma and control groups before and after adjusting for potential confounding variables.

Results: The average (± standard deviation) mean deviation (MD) on visual fields was -0.3 (±2.0) dB in controls and -3.5 (±3.5) dB in glaucoma patients. Age, axial length and their interaction were the most significant factors affecting CT on multivariate analysis. Adjusted average CT (corrected for age, axial length, their interaction, gender and lens status) however, was not different between glaucoma patients and the control group (P=0.083) except in the temporal parafoveal region (P=0.037); nor was choroidal thickness related to glaucoma severity (r=-0.187, P=0.176 for correlation with MD, r=-0.151, P=0.275 for correlation with average nerve fiber layer thickness).

Conclusions: Choroidal thickness of the macular and peripapillary regions is not decreased in glaucoma. Anatomical measurements with SD-OCT do not support the possible influence of the choroid on the pathophysiology of glaucoma.

Keywords: Choroidal Thickness; Glaucoma; Macula; Peripapillary; Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Examples of high definition 5-line raster images in eyes with varying choroidal thickness: eyes with thick (a), thin (b), and moderate choroidal thickness (c). Choroidal thickness is marked (white lines) at four predetermined locations (white arrows) temporal to the disc (d).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of choroidal thickness at 4 selected locations on the 9 mm HD5 OCT scan according to diagnosis. Central line in the box = median, borders of the box = interquartile range, and whiskers = 95% confidence intervals, circles or triangles = outliers. HD, high definition; OCT, optical coherence tomography
Figure 3
Figure 3
Bivariate scatter plots of subfoveal choroidal thickness versus age (left) and axial length (right) according to diagnosis.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Bivariate scatter plots of subfoveal choroidal thickness versus visual field mean deviation (left) and retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFL, right) in glaucoma patients. The correlations were not significant for any of the two glaucoma severity variables (r=−0.187, p=0.176 for correlation with mean deviation, r=−0.151, p=0.275 for correlation with average RNFL thickness).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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