Abstract
Purpose:
The aim of this study was to indentify artifacts in the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness measurements with Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) in elderly.
Methods:
An earlier three-city study (3C; 1999) recruited and studied 9294 subjects aged 65 years or more drawn from three French cities (Bordeaux, Dijon and Montpellier). After a 10-year follow up, a part of the Dijon’s cohort had a complete ophthalmic examination (MONTRACHET study). All patients underwent a complete ophthalmic examination, including a macular and RNFL Spectral-Domain OCT.<br /> Artifacts were sorted into categories, those related to eye diseases (epiretinal membrane (ERM), vitreo retinal traction, high myopia, macular edema), to the software, to the operator and to the signal strength.
Results:
One thousand one hundred and fifty-three subjects were included in the study; the mean age was 82.2±3.8 years and 37.3% were male; 145 (6.3%) artifacts were found: 74 for the right eyes and 71 for the left eyes. The signal strength was 28 [9-40]. Artifacts related to eye diseases were: 37 vitreo retinal tractions (25.51%), 24 high myopia (16.6%), 6 macular edema (4.1%), 7 ERM (3.4%), 2 polypoidal vasculopathies (1.4%) and 1 myelinated retinal nerve fibers (0.07%). Six centering errors (4.1%) were considered to be operator-related artifacts. Forty-two artifacts tracing error (29.0%) of the software have been found.
Conclusions:
The results of the MONTRACHET study about artifacts in the RNFL thickness measurements may be taken in consideration due to the importance of RNFL SD-OCT for screening, diagnosis, follow-up and treatment of glaucoma.