Peripapillary choroidal thickness in glaucoma measured with optical coherence tomography

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Glaucoma Research
• Optical Coherence Tomography

Background:

• Choroidal changes are implicated in glaucoma.
• Assessing peripapillary choroidal thickness (CT) may offer insights into glaucoma pathophysiology.
• Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) is a key imaging modality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate peripapillary choroidal thickness (CT) in patients with and without primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG).
• To determine the correlation between CT and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness in glaucoma patients.
• To evaluate the utility of CT assessment in glaucoma diagnosis and management.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of SD-OCT scans from 70 eyes (31 POAG, 39 suspects).
• Manual segmentation of CT by two masked investigators; agreement assessed using Lin's concordance correlation coefficient (CCC).
• Correlation analysis between RNFL and CT, and comparison between POAG and suspect groups using t-tests and linear regression.

Main Results:

• High inter-observer agreement for CT measurements (Lin's CCC = 0.93).
• No significant correlation found between RNFL and CT (absolute r ≤ 0.15).
• POAG eyes had thinner RNFL but similar CT compared to suspect eyes; CT decreased with age, but not RNFL thickness.

Conclusions:

• Peripapillary CT does not differ significantly between POAG and suspect eyes.
• There is no significant correlation between RNFL thickness and CT in the studied population.
• CT assessment is not supported by this study for glaucoma diagnosis or management.