Evaluation of choroidal thickness using enhanced depth imaging by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography in patients with pseudoexfoliation syndrome

Abstract

Purpose To investigate the choroidal thickness using optical coherence tomography in the eyes of patients with unilateral and bilateral pseudoexfoliation syndrome and to compare them with healthy controls.

Methods We studied four groups: (1) affected eyes from 30 patients with unilateral PEX syndrome affecting the right eye of 17 patients and the left eye of 13 patients; (2) clinically unaffected eyes of 30 patients with unilateral PEX syndrome; (3) the eyes of 30 patients with bilateral PEX syndrome; and (4) the eyes of 30 normal healthy subjects. Choroidal thickness was evaluated using high-speed, high-resolution enhanced depth imaging by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography. Optical coherence tomography features were compared in all groups using the statistical package SPSS v 15.0.

Results The mean subfoveal choroidal thicknesses were 237.35 +/- 58.01 mu m in group 1; 330.75 +/- 47.84 mu m in group 2; 206.3 +/- 86.75 mu m in group 3; and 311.8 +/- 51.42 mu m in group 4. Significant differences in the mean subfoveal choroidal thickness were found between groups 1 and 2 (P < 0.001), groups 1 and 4 (P = 0.004), groups 2 and 3 (P < 0.001), and groups 3 and 4 (P < 0.001).

Conclusion In this study, it was observed that clinically affected eyes of patients with PEX syndrome have significantly thinner choroids compared with the clinically unaffected eyes of patients with unilateral PEX syndrome and eyes of healthy controls.