Korean J Ophthalmol.  2016 Apr;30(2):140-147. 10.3341/kjo.2016.30.2.140.

Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness Measurement Comparison Using Spectral Domain and Swept Source Optical Coherence Tomography

• Ha A
• Lee SH
• Lee EJ
• Kim TW

• KMID: 2160465
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3341/kjo.2016.30.2.140

Abstract

PURPOSE
To investigate the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness concordance when measured by spectral domain (SD) and swept source (SS) optical coherence tomography (OCT), and to compare glaucoma-discriminating capability.
METHODS
RNFL thicknesses were measured with the scan circle, centered on the optic nerve head, in 55 healthy, 41 glaucoma suspected, and 87 glaucomatous eyes. The RNFL thickness measured by the SD-OCT (sdRNFL thickness) and SS-OCT (ssRNFL thickness) were compared using the t-test. Bland-Altman analysis was performed to examine their agreement. We compared areas under the receiver operating characteristics curve and examined sdRNFL and ssRNFL thickness for discriminating glaucomatous eyes from healthy eyes, and from glaucoma suspect eyes.
RESULTS
The average ssRNFL thickness was significantly greater than sdRNFL thickness in healthy (110.0 ± 7.9 vs. 100.1 ± 6.8 µm, p < 0.001), glaucoma suspect (96.8 ± 9.3 vs. 89.6 ± 7.9 µm, p < 0.001), and glaucomatous eyes (74.3 ± 14.2 vs. 69.1 ± 12.4 µm, p = 0.011). Bland-Altman analysis showed that there was a tendency for the difference between ssRNFL and sdRNFL to increase in eyes with thicker RNFL. The area under the curves of the average sdRNFL and ssRNFL thickness for discriminating glaucomatous eyes from healthy eyes (0.984 vs. 0.986, p = 0.491) and glaucoma suspect eyes (0.936 vs. 0.918, p = 0.132) were comparable.
CONCLUSIONS
There was a tendency for ssRNFL thickness to increase, compared with sdRNFL thickness, in eyes with thicker RNFL. The ssRNFL thickness had comparable diagnostic capability compared with sdRNFL thickness for discriminating glaucomatous eyes from healthy eyes and glaucoma suspect eyes.

Keyword

Diagnostic capability; Glaucoma; Optical coherence tomography; Retinal nerve fiber layer thicknesses

MeSH Terms

Glaucoma
Nerve Fibers*
Optic Disk
Retinaldehyde*
ROC Curve
Tomography, Optical Coherence*
Retinaldehyde

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Scatter plot of the average retinal nerve fiber layer thickness measurements for 183 eyes.

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  Fig. 2 Bland-Altman plot of average retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness between swept source and spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT). Note that the swept source OCT RNFL thickness was greater than that of spectral domain OCT in eyes with larger RNFL thickness. The solid line indicates the regression line and the dashed lines indicate the 95% limit of agreement.

• 

  Fig. 3 Bland-Altman plots of agreement of quadrant retinal nerve fiber layer thicknesses between swept source and spectral domain optical coherence tomography at temporal (A), superior (B), nasal (C), and inferior (D) quadrants.

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  Fig. 4 The area under the curve for receiver operating characteristics of retinal nerve fiber layer thickness to discriminate glaucomatous eyes from healthy eyes (A) and suspect eyes (B). SD = spectral domain; SS = swept source.

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