Influence of axial length on thickness measurements using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography

The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of axial length on spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) thickness measurements in patients with subretinal visual implants.

Data from eight emmetropic pseudophakic eyes of eight patients with subretinal visual implants were analyzed retrospectively. These patients participated in the monocentric part of a multicenter trial. The axial length was measured in three short (<22.5 mm), three medium (22.51-25.50 mm), and two long (>25.52 mm) eyes. Using Heidelberg Spectralis, the known thickness of a subretinal implant microchip (70 μm) was measured on 15 images per eye with SD-OCT, using the software calipers.

The mean axial length was 20.8 ± 0.8 mm in short eyes, 23.3 ± 0.4 mm in medium eyes, and 26.3 ± 0.5 mm in long eyes. We found in short eyes, in medium eyes, and in long eyes a mean value of microchip thickness measurements from SD-OCT of 82.9 ± 1.4 μm, 70.5 ± 1.3 μm, and 64.2 ± 1.3 μm, respectively. The thickness measurements decreased in SD-OCT measurements with longer axial lengths significantly (P < 0.0001).

Axial length influences SD-OCT thickness measurements. Our findings demonstrate accuracy of the scaling in SD-OCT thickness measurements in emmetropic medium eyes. Caution is recommended when comparing the measured values of short and long eyes with the normative database of the instrument. There is a need for larger sample-size studies to confirm our results. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01024803.).