Author/Authors :
Moghimi, Sasan Eye Research Center Farabi Eye Hospital - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , Mazloumi, Mehdi Eye Research Center Farabi Eye Hospital - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , Johari, Mohammad Karim Eye Research Center Farabi Eye Hospital - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , Fard, Masoud Aghsaie Eye Research Center Farabi Eye Hospital - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , Chen, Rebecca Koret Vision Center - University of California - San Francisco Medical School, USA , Weinreb, Robert Hamilton Glaucoma Center - Department of Ophthalmology - University of California-San Diego, USA , Nouri-Mahdavi, Kouros Stein Eye Institute - University of California, USA
Abstract :
Purpose: To test the hypothesis that macular choroidal thickness is lower in patients with pseudoexfoliation syndrome (PXS) as compared to
healthy control subjects.
Methods: In this cross-sectional, observational study, 38 non-glaucomatous PXS subjects and 37 healthy volunteers were enrolled in a tertiary
care Glaucoma Clinic. The macular region was scanned with the enhanced depth imaging (EDI) protocol of a spectral domain optical coherence
tomography (SD-OCT) device (Spectralis OCT, Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany). Macular choroidal thickness and volumes were
compared in nine sectors of the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) layout profile across the central 3.45 mm zone after
manual segmentation of the choroidal thickness. Linear mixed modeling was used to adjust for confounding variables.
Results: Six PXS eyes and 8 control eyes were excluded due to poor image quality leaving 32 PXS and 29 control eyes for final analyses. The
average age and axial length of the PXS and control groups were 67.94 ± 7.30 vs 64.86 ± 7.04 and 22.91 ± 0.77 vs 23.24 ± 0.66 mm,
respectively, (P ¼ 0.10 and 0.20). There was no significant difference in retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness between the two groups
(P ¼ 0.24). The choroidal thickness was significantly lower in the central subfield subfoveal area (P ¼ 0.02) and in the inner superior (P ¼ 0.03)
and inner nasal quadrants (P ¼ 0.03) in the PXS group compared to the control group, as was the choroidal volume (P ¼ 0.02). No significant
difference was found in macular choroidal thickness after adjusting for age, gender, and axial length. While there was a significant negative
association between age and central subfield choroidal thickness in the control group (r ¼ 0.48, P ¼ 0.01), this association was not significant
in the PXS group (r ¼ 0.08, P ¼ 0.68).
Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that the choroid does not seem to be significantly altered in PXS eyes. Choroidal thickness changes need to be explored in PXS eyes with glaucoma.
