Enhanced depth imaging-optical coherence tomography of the choroid in moderate and severe primary angle-closure glaucoma.

PURPOSE: To compare the choroidal thickness (CT) in eyes with moderate and severe primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) with the eyes of healthy controls.

METHODS

Fifty-nine patients (59 eyes) with PACG and 56 age-matched normal subjects underwent macular CT scanning using enhanced depth imaging-optical coherence tomography. The subjects with PACG were further classified as having moderate [-12 dB ≤ visual field mean deviation (VF-MD) ≤ -6 dB] or severe (VF-MD < -12 dB) glaucoma. The average CT of the PACG eyes at each location was compared to that of normal eyes.

RESULTS

The CT was significantly increased in moderate and severe PACG eyes compared with the normal eyes at all nine macular locations, with the exception of 1 and 3 mm superior to the fovea. The mean CT under the fovea was 292.0 ± 48.2 μm in the moderate PACG eyes, 277.1 ± 58.3 μm in the severe PACG eyes and 249.9 ± 72.1 μm in the normal eyes, respectively. There were no significant differences between the macular CTs in the eyes with moderate PACG and those in severe PACG eyes (all p > 0.05). Factors associated with a thinner choroid were ageing (p < 0.001), female (p = 0.036) and increasing axial length (p = 0.021). Neither the VF-MD nor pattern standard deviation was found to be associated with CT.

CONCLUSIONS

The CT is greater in patients with PACG, but it does not differ between moderate and severe PACG, suggesting a lack of relationship between CT and the progression of glaucoma based on EDI-OCT measurements.