Abstract:
To compare two different methods of assessing retinalnerve fiber layer damage in patients with HIV without infectiousretinitis. Our group has previously shown that there are visualfield abnormalities and structural changes in HIV patients withoutinfectious retinitis. Our purpose was to evaluate retinal nervefiber layer (RNFL) loss.
We used two different devices: the scanning laser polarimeter(SLP) with corneal compensation (GDx–VCC, LDT); and opticalcoherence tomography (StratusOCT, Zeiss–Humphrey). Westudied two groups, one (23 male, 4 female, 24 right eyes, 22left eyes) with documented history of prolonged low CD4 nadir(less than 100 cells/ml) and another (21 male, 4 female, 25right eyes, 25 left eyes) with a CD4 nadir always above 100.Data are shown below for the SLP: NFI, superior and inferiorRNFL thickness and TSNIT thickness. Data also are shown forOCT (RNFL thickness in four quadrants and the average RNFL thickness.One–tailed, two–sample student’s t test wasused to compare significance.
The results are listed below in Tables 1 & 2
In both instruments the low CD4 group had reducedthicknesses and worse index score. The inferior retina (superiorVF) is more affected. Both the GDx and OCT measurements of peripapillaryarea are strongly correlated with CD4 nadir. This suggests thateven in the HAART era there is loss of RNFL in areas that correspondto areas of visual field loss. Further comparison of the twoinstruments and their correlation with visual fields, neuropsychologymarkers and medical data are ongoing.
Keywords: clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: systems/equipment/techniques • imaging methods (CT, FA, ICG, MRI, OCT, RTA, SLO, ultrasound) • AIDS/HIV