Comparison of spectral‐domain and time‐domain optical coherence tomography for evaluation of macular thickness and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer in multiple sclerosis patients

Abstract

Abstract Purpose To compare Cirrus HD Fourier‐domain optical coherence (OCT) with Stratus time‐domain OCT for measuring retinal and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. Methods Fifty eyes from 25 patients with MS (7 men and 18 women, aged 28 to 69 years) were prospective and consecutively studied. All of them underwent a ophthalmic examination that included assessment of visual acuity and colour vision visual field examination, Stratus OCT (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc.) and 3 Cirrus HD‐OCT (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc.). Both OCT devices were used to evaluate RNFL and macular thickness. Comparison of OCTs measurements were done for the following parameters: peripapillary quadrants and RNFL clock hour sectors and the 9 macular areas corresponding to the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS). Coefficients of variation (COV) using Cirrus OCT were calculated. Results Mean RNFL average thickness were 95.70 ±15.43 and 87.19 ±14.52 μm using Cirrus and Stratus OCT, respectively. RNFL measurements did not show significant differences. Mean total RT was 273.65 ±20.17 μm using Cirrus OCT and 200.33 ±24.10 μm using Stratus OCT. Retinal thickness measurements from Cirrus HD‐OCT were approximately 46.91 µm larger than those from Stratus OCT. All retinal measurements showed significant differences (p<0.001). Mean COV was 3.68 ±2.75% (ranged from 0.92 to 8.41%). Conclusion MS patients evaluate with Cirrus and Stratus OCT show differences in their macular measurements in, but no at the RNFL. All measurements obtained using Cirrus OCT show good reproducibility in these patients.