Research Article - Journal of Clinical Ophthalmology (2021) Volume 5, Issue 1

Peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer thickness, ganglion cell thickness and foveal thickness in school going children as measured by spectral domain optical coherence tomography.

Purpose: The study was conducted to compile a normative database for SD-OCT measurements of foveal thickness, Ganglion cell thickness as well as peripapillary RNFL thickness in paediatric age of 7-15 years and to analyse the correlation of such values with age, gender and refractive error (SE)

Methods: The study enrolled 200 eyes of 100 children (47 males and 53 females) that attended the Department of ophthalmology, Father Muller Medical College, Mangalore from September 2016-2017. A complete ophthalmological examination was done including cycloplegic refraction and fundus evaluation with 90 D lens. Spectral domain OCT was performed using CIRRUS HD OCT after pupillary dilatation. Signal strength of 6 or higher was considered acceptable.

Results: 100 children were included in this study, 47 males and 53 females. The mean age of patients was 12.07 ± 2.46 SD years. Average spherical equivalent (SE) was -0.301 ± 0.72 SD dioptres in the right and -0.29 ± 0.69 SD dioptres in the left eye. The mean global RNFL thickness was 93.395 μm and the mean GCC thickness was 78.42 μm. Both were marginally higher in females (93.1887, 79.7547) compared to males (91.9787, 77.2979) with p=0.67 and 0.33 respectively. RNFL thickness was maximum in the inferior quadrant (122.265 μm) followed by superior (121.305 μm), nasal (69.325 μm) and temporal quadrants (62.485 μm). The mean CFT in this study was 234.325 μm and the mean MV was 9.697 μm. It was marginally higher in males compared to females.

Conclusion: RNFL thickness followed a normal distribution. RNFL, foveal and GCC thickness varied marginally with gender and had no significant correlation with age and refractive error. The normative data from this study could serve as reference for further studies on paediatric glaucoma using newer imaging modalities.

Author(s): Dilon D. Noronha, Norman B Mendonca

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