Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 8, 2026
Using Optical Coherence Tomography and Optokinetic Response As Structural and Functional Visual System Readouts in Mice and Rats
Published on: January 10, 2019
Analysis of peripapillary atrophy using spectral domain optical coherence tomography
Varsha Manjunath1, Heeral Shah, James G Fujimoto
1New England Eye Center, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02111, USA.
Objective:
To study retinal morphologic changes around the optic disc in patients with peripapillary atrophy (PPA) with high-resolution spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD OCT).
Design:
Cross-sectional, retrospective analysis.
Participants:
A total of 103 eyes of 73 patients with PPA and 21 eyes of 12 normal patients seen at the New England Eye Center, Tufts Medical Center, between January 2007 and August 2009.
Methods:
Spectral domain optical coherence tomography images taken through the region of PPA were quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed. Inclusion criteria included eyes with at least 300 microm of temporal PPA as detected on color fundus photographs. The study population was divided into subgroups according to the following clinical diagnoses: glaucoma (n=13), age-related macular degeneration (n=11), high myopia (n=11), glaucoma and high myopia (n=3), and optic neuropathy (n=11). Fifty-four patients were classified with other diagnoses. By using OCT software, retinal thickness and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness were both manually measured perpendicular to the internal limiting membrane and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) 300 microm temporal to the optic disc, within the region of PPA. Qualitative analysis for morphologic changes in the atrophic area was also performed.
Main Outcome Measures:
Qualitative assessment and quantitative measures of retinal and RNFL thickness in PPA.
Results:
The study group was categorized by 6 characteristics demonstrated in the area of PPA by SD OCT: RPE loss with accompanying photoreceptor loss, RPE disruption, RNFL thickening with plaque-like formation, intraretinal cystic changes, inner and outer retinal thinning, and abnormal retinal sloping. Statistical analysis of measurements revealed a statistically significant difference in the total retinal thickness between normal eyes and eyes with PPA (P=0.0005), with normal eyes 15% thicker than the eyes with PPA; however, the RNFL thickness was not significantly different between the normal eyes and the eyes with PPA (P=0.05).
Conclusions:
Eyes with PPA manifest characteristic retinal changes that can be described via SD OCT.
