Abstract:
To assess the retinal thickness pre– and post–operatively in patients who have undergone cataract surgery using optical coherence tomography (OCT).
Twenty–two eyes of patients who were to undergo cataract surgery were included in this study. The eyes were imaged with OCT preoperatively and 5 weeks after cataract surgery to measure foveal thickness. The retinal thickness data from the 2 concentric sectors in each of the 4 perifoveal regions (superior, inferior, nasal and temporal) were recorded and analyzed (see figure 1).
The mean ± standard deviation foveal thickness (measured in µm) preoperatively in each of the foveal zones was in zone (1) 194.59 ± 31.87; zone (2) 232.18 ± 38.23; zone (3) 238.94 37.23; zone (4) 227.65 ± 42.68; zone (5) 225.29 ± 27.05; zone (6) 206.94 ± 29.83; zone (7) 212.88 ± 26.70; zone (8) 200.18 ± 40.03; zone (9) 204.71 ± 26.58. At 5 weeks, the macular thickness change in the same zones were as follows zone (1) + 31.70; zone (2) +28.17; zone (3) +21.65; zone (4) +27.23; zone (5) +32.71; zone (6) +19.53; zone (7) +14.53; zone (8) +26.06; zone (9) +25.41. The range of macular thickness change was 14.53 to 32.71 µm.
1. The clinical assessment of post–operative cystoid macular edema is subjective and variable; OCT offers a quantitative tool for measurement of foveal thickness.
2. In our study, we found that OCT macular thickness is greater by an average of 25.22 µm at 5 wks post–operatively when compared to baseline measurements. This thickness appeared to persist in 2 of 4 patients after 3 months after cataract surgery.
3. There was no correlation between post–operative visual acuity and macular thickness change.
Keywords: imaging methods (CT, FA, ICG, MRI, OCT, RTA, SLO, ultrasound) • imaging/image analysis: clinical