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Peripapillary RNFL thinning linked to macular thinning in nonglaucomatous black sickle cell patients
Thinning of the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer was associated with macular thinning in black patients with sickle cell hemoglobinopathy and no glaucoma, according to a study.
The prospective study included 151 eyes of 88 sickle cell patients and 55 eyes of 30 controls matched for age and race who underwent spectral-domain optical coherence tomography of the macula and optic nerve head using the Heidelberg Spectralis (Heidelberg Engineering).
The patients with sickle cell hemoglobinopathies were categorized as those with focal macular thinning and those without focal macular thinning. The macular thinning subgroup was further categorized based on mild, moderate and severe temporal macular thickness.
Study results showed eyes of sickle cell patients with macular thinning had significantly thinner peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layers (RNFLs) in the nasal sector compared with controls (P = .01), as well as in the superotemporal sector compared with the eyes of sickle cell patients without macular thinning (P = .01). Those with severe macular thinning had a significantly thinner peripapillary RNFL than that of controls (P < .05).
The correlation between the degree of peripapillary RNFL thinning and the severity of temporal macular thinning may indicate the need for different peripapillary RNFL thickness thresholds for future glaucoma evaluations, according to the authors.