Evaluation of peripapillary choroidal thickness in unilateral normal-tension glaucoma

To evaluate the association of normal-tension glaucoma and peripapillary choroidal thickness.

Sixty-one patients with normal-tension glaucoma in one eye.

Spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) scans were obtained to estimate peripapillary choroidal thickness in a group of unilateral normal-tension glaucoma patients. The average peripapillary choroidal thicknesses of the glaucomatous eye and the nonglaucomatous eye of each patient were compared, and the choroidal thickness underlying the retinal nerve fiber layer defect in the glaucomatous eye was compared with the choroidal thickness of a compatible position in the contralateral normal eye. The associations of peripapillary choroidal thickness with independent parameters including the presence of glaucoma, age, sex, refractive error, axial length, central corneal thickness, intraocular pressure, visual field mean deviation, visual field pattern standard deviation, and systemic disease were assessed with mixed model univariate and multivariate analyses.

The average peripapillary choroidal thickness was not statistically significantly different in the glaucomatous and nonglaucomatous eyes of the patients (P = 0.52). There was no definite difference between the choroidal thickness underlying the retinal nerve fiber layer defect in the glaucomatous eye and the choroidal thickness of a compatible position in the contralateral normal eye, indicating that there was no correlation of the retinal nerve fiber layer with choroidal thickness. Age (P = 0.004) and axial length (P ≤ 0.0001) were negatively associated with peripapillary choroidal thickness.

In unilateral normal tension glaucoma, there was no significant intereye difference in choroidal thickness measured with SD-OCT. The structural features of the choroid may not be associated with normal-tension glaucoma.