Abstract
Purpose:
To study changes in in-vivo characteristics of choroidal structure, volume, and thickness in patients with Behcet’s disease through time and correlate these values with results from clinical examination of the retina.
Methods:
Spectral domain OCT data was collected and utilized to construct choroidal thickness and volume maps of 8 eyes from 4 patients diagnosed with Behcet’s disease who presented to the Doheny Eye Institute from June 2009 to June 2012. Choroidal thickness was averaged on each B-scan over the total area for each eye, and the averages were used to calculate a mean choroidal thickness for each eye. The same process was used to calculate mean choroidal volume for each eye. Choroidal thickness and volume for each scan was then compared and correlated with clinical presentation of these individuals as well as extent of retinal involvement of Behcet’s disease, focusing on changes in choroid thickness and volume over time.
Results:
Analysis of the B-scans revealed mean choroidal thickness to be 156.72 µm in the group of patients with Behcet’s. Mean choroidal volume was found to be 5.21 mm3. Of the 4 patients with Behcet’s disease, none were found to have ocular involvement of the disease on clinical exam. No qualitative or objective changes in either choroidal thickness or volume were observed on repeat scans of each eye (over a maximum course of 24 months).
Conclusions:
Behcet’s is a systemic vasculitis that can have ocular and non-ocular involvement. When the eye is involved changes can be seen at the level of the retina and the choroid. This study demonstrates that the clinical exam correlates closely with objective analysis of the retina and choroid. Baseline values for choroidal thickness and volume were established for each eye, and as the OCT scans were repeated through time, no subclinical changes in choroidal thickness or volume were evident. Therefore OCT can be a valuable tool for monitoring Behcet’s over time and in situations where access to regular exams by a specialist is limited.
Keywords: 557 inflammation •
746 uveitis-clinical/animal model •
550 imaging/image analysis: clinical