Using choroidal thickness to detect myopic macular degeneration.

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Medical Imaging
• Retinal Diseases

Background:

• High myopia is associated with increased risk of myopic macular degeneration (MMD).
• Accurate detection of MMD is crucial for timely intervention and management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy of choroidal thickness measurements using swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) in identifying MMD.
• To compare the diagnostic performance of choroidal thickness with traditional biometric parameters.

Main Methods:

• Participants with high myopia (≤-6 diopters) underwent SS-OCT for choroidal thickness assessment.
• Myopic maculopathy was classified using the International Meta-Analysis for Pathologic Myopia (META-PM) criteria.
• Presence of MMD was defined as META-PM category 2 or higher.

Main Results:

• Eyes with MMD exhibited reduced choroidal thickness across all ETDRS grid sectors (P<0.001).
• Subfoveal choroidal thickness showed high diagnostic accuracy (AUC=0.907).
• Nasal sector choroidal thickness (inner: 0.928, outer: 0.923) demonstrated superior MMD detection compared to age, axial length, and spherical equivalent.

Conclusions:

• Choroidal thickness, especially in the nasal sectors, is a highly accurate biometric parameter for detecting MMD in high myopia.
• This measurement offers greater precision than age, axial length, or spherical equivalent for MMD diagnosis.