SS-OCT system is successful in evaluating macular choroidal thickness

A study featured in Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science has demonstrated the accuracy of the swep-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) system in evaluating choroidal thickness.

Dr Akitaka Tsujikawa et al., Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Sakyo-ku, Japan, studied the macular area of 31 eyes from 31 healthy partcipants. Scans were completed in 0.8 seconds with an SS-OCT prototype system. The system’s light source is a tunable laser operating at 100,00 Hz.

The choroidal thickness map of the macular area was obtained by manual segmentation and was assessed in 10 participants by two observers.

It was found that the system enabled the visualization of the fine structure of the choroid and the retina. The mean macular volume and choroidal thickness were 191.5 ± 74.2 μm and 5.411 ± 2.097 mm3, respectively.

The results also demonstrated the intraclass correlation coefficient in mean choroidal thickness was between 0.945 and 0.980 in each area, meaning the measurements recorded the two observers were significantly identical.

Macular choroidal thickness was strongly linked to axial length after adjustment for age and age after adjustment for axial length. The SS-OCT at 1 μm provides a significantly accurate method for the measurement of choroidal thickness.