Abstract
Purpose: :
To determine the anatomic variations in the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness distribution and the relationship between these anatomic variations and other ocular variables.
Methods: :
Complete ophthalmic examinations, including measurement of visual acuity, refraction, and axial length were performed on 269 subjects with no ophthalmologic abnormalities. Further, fundus photographs and optic disc cube scans of the subjects’ eyes were obtained using a fundus camera and the Cirrus HD OCT respectively. We measured the distance between the foveola and the center of the optic nerve head. The correlation of the angles of the peaks in the RNFL thickness profile with the axial length, spherical equivalent of refractive errors (SE), and distance between the foveola and optic disc center was analyzed by simple linear regression.
Results: :
Considerable interindividual variations were found in the angles of the peaks in the RNFL thickness profile. Further, in each individual, the angles for the 2 eyes showed significant differences. The angles of the superior and inferior 1st peak were significantly correlated with the SE, axial length, and distance between the foveola and optic disc center.
Conclusions: :
Subjects with increased distance between the foveola and optic disc center are likely to temporal shift in the peak RNFL thickness. RNFL profiles with horizontally deviated peak RNFL thickness considerably differ from the normative data provided with the Cirrus HD OCT system. The variations in the RNFL thickness profiles should be taken into account during RNFL thickness profile analysis.
Keywords: imaging/image analysis: non-clinical