Normal Reference Ranges of Optical Coherence Tomography Parameters in Children

To measure the macular thickness, macular volume and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) in healthy Caucasian chil-dren using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SDOCT) and analyze the correlation of these values with age, refraction, and biometric measurements.

In this cross-sectional study, we recruited 270 healthy children (150 female and 120 male) aged 6 to 17 years with no ocular abnormalities. All children underwent a detailed eye examination. The measurements were obtained using a SDOCT device (SOCT Copernicus REVO). Main outcome measures were macular thickness, macular volume and RNFL thickness. Their correlations with age, refractive error, anterior chamber depth (ACD) and axial length (AL) was analyzed. Right eyes of all subjects were selected for analysis.

In this study group (mean age 10.70±2.82 years), the average peripapillary RNFL thickness was 117.11±9.15 μm, the central macular thickness was 232.10±15.81 μm, the average macular thickness was 286.70±9.82 μm, and the average macular volume was 8.01±0.28 mm³. The average values for the biometric data were: axial length - 23.16±0.94 mm, anterior chamber depth - 3.64±0.26 mm, the spherical equivalent (SE) value - +0.81±0.58 diopter. Central macular thickness, inner macular thickness (superior, inferior, nasal, temporal quadrants) values, total macular thickness and macular volume were significantly higher in males than in females. We found a positive correlation between central macular thickness, inner nasal macular thickness, outer inferior macular thickness values, and age. Also, we found a significant correlation between the average macular thickness values and the average macular volume values (p<0.0001). RNFL measurements did not correlate with age (p=0.199). Almost all macular parameters were consistently positively cor-related with SE. A significant correlation was also found between the central macular thickness, inner inferior macular thickness, inner nasal macular thickness and the ACD. We found a significant correlation between the average macular thickness, macular volume, inner superior macular thickness, outer macular thickness (superior, inferior, nasal, temporal quadrants) values and the AL.

This study found normal reference ranges for RNFL and macular parameters measured by SOCT Copernicus REVO in healthy Caucasian children aged 6-17 years. This normative values could be very useful in early diagnosing and monitoring of optic neuropathy, glaucoma and macular diseases in childhood.