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Spectral-domain OCT demonstrates reproducibility in measuring RNFL thickness
J Glaucoma. 2011;20(8):470-476.
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Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography measurements of peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness were highly reproducible and repeatable, a study found.
Researchers used the Spectralis OCT (Heidelberg Engineering) to obtain three measurements during a single visit for each of 33 participants with glaucoma and 45 healthy controls. One of each participant's eyes was randomly selected for statistical analysis.
To evaluate reproducibility, the researchers examined within-subject standard deviation, coefficient of variation and intraclass correlation coefficient.
Results showed that within-subject standard deviation ranged from 1.34 μm (overall global) to 2.39 μm (superior-temporal and inferior-temporal sectors) in healthy eyes and 1.14 μm (overall global) to 2.25 μm (superior-nasal sector) in glaucomatous eyes.
Coefficient of variation ranged from 1.45% (overall global) to 2.59% (temporal quadrant) in normal eyes and 1.74% (overall global) to 3.22% (temporal quadrant) in glaucomatous eyes. Intraclass correlation coefficient ranged from 0.977 (temporal quadrant) to 0.990 (overall global and inferior-nasal sector) in healthy eyes and 0.983 (temporal quadrant) to 0.997 (inferior quadrant) in glaucomatous eyes.
"Further studies with longer follow-up are needed to evaluate intervisit variability and to determine if Spectralis OCT can detect small structural changes over time," the researchers said.