Inconsistencies in choroidal thickness may be observed in patients with wet, dry AMD

Am J Ophthalmol. 2011;152(4):663-668

Variable choroidal thickness may be seen in patients with wet or dry age-related macular degeneration, a study found.

"It is unclear at this time why in some eyes, choroidal thickness either increases or decreases with the disease. Further studies need to be carried out to understand the significance of choroidal thickness with respect to visual function and disease progression over time," the study authors wrote.

In the cross-sectional, retrospective analysis, 57 eyes of 47 patients were imaged using Cirrus high-definition optical coherence tomography (Carl Zeiss Meditec) and then manually measured for choroidal thickness by two separate observers. Pearson correlation and Student t-test were employed for statistical analysis.

Most patients demonstrated thinner choroids than age-adjusted volunteers without disease. The range of thickness in eyes with wet and dry AMD was 77.5 µm to 399.5 µm, with a standard deviation of 90.2; nearly one-third measured less than 1 standard deviation below the mean. Overall, eyes with wet AMD had thinner average choroids than eyes with dry AMD (194.6 µm vs. 213.4 µm).

While choroidal thickness in eyes with dry AMD was correlated inversely with age (P = .002), number of anti-VEGF injections, years of disease and visual acuity showed no significant correlations.

Notably, only 38% of an original 150 eyes that were assessed had dependable choroidal visualization, potentially limiting the study's reliability. Moreover, thickness measurements were performed manually without computer software.