Abstract
Purpose:
To evaluate the macular structure and peripapillary nerve fiber layer in patients with hemoglobinopathies using optical coherence tomography (OCT)
Methods:
Prospective, cross-sectional study of 24 patients (47 eyes) who had no hemoglobinopathies (control group) and 50 patients with hemoglobinopathies (98 eyes). The patients underwent anterior and posterior segment biomicroscopy, tonometry, dilated fundus examination with indirect binocular ophthalmoscope and OCT (RTVue, Optovue, USA). Patients with hemoglobinopathies were classified according to the presence of retinopathy
Results:
Central macular thickness was increased in patients with proliferative retinopathy when compared to the control group. There was no statistical difference in the measurements of other macular areas. The mean thickness of the ganglion cell complex (GCC) was similar between groups; however, focal loss of GCC were documented leading to differences in the FLV index in the groups with hemoglobinopathies, even in patients without clinical manifest retinopathy. In the horizontal cross-sectional scans there was thinning of the internal retinal layers temporal to the fovea, even in patients without signs of peripheral retinopathy. Thinning of the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) was observed in the nasal quadrant in patients with proliferative retinopathy
Conclusions:
: Patients with Sickle cell disease have altered foveal structure with focal loss of GCC, even without signs of retinopathy in the periphery. Patients with proliferative sickle cell retinopathy have thinning of the nasal quadrant of the peripapillary RNFL
Keywords: 552 imaging methods (CT, FA, ICG, MRI, OCT, RTA, SLO, ultrasound) •
688 retina •
610 nerve fiber layer