Macular Thickness and Volume in Pseudoexfoliation Glaucoma and Pseudoexfoliation Syndrome

Abstract

Objective: To analyze and compare differences in macular thickness of pseudoexfoliation glaucoma (PXG), pseudoexfoliation syndrome (PEX), and age-matched control (CON) subjects. Methods: This clinical case control study was conducted from May 2014 to May 2017, and the patients were selected consecutively. The PXG group included 31 eyes of 31 cases, the PEX group included 16 eyes of 16 cases, and the CON group included 34 eyes of 34 subjects that were age and gender-matched. All subjects underwent three-dimensional optical coherence tomography scans to measure macular thickness and macular volume. The data were analyzed by ANOVA. Results: The average macular thicknesses of CON group, PEX group, and PXG group were 305 ± 15 μm, 299 ± 12 μm, and 289 ± 18 μm, respectively. The average macular volume of the three groups were 0.94±0.05 μmm3, 0.92 ± 0.03 μmm3, and 0.89 ± 0.06 μm3 respectively. The overall difference of macular thickness in nasal inner macula (NIM), superior inner macula (SIM), temporal inner macula (TIM), inferior inner macula (IIM), superior outer macula (SOM), temporal outer macula (TOM), and inferior outer macula (IOM) quadrants was significant among the three groups (F=4.887, 8.987, 7.889, 9.489, 6.462, 6.464, and 7.964, P<0.05). However, there were no significant differences among the central macular thickness (CMT), central subfield (CSF), and nasal outer macula (NOM) quadrants. The overall difference of macular volume in NIM, SIM, TIM, IIM, SOM, TOM, and IOM quadrants was significant among the three groups (F=4.352, 8.697, 7.920, 8.513, 6.185, 6.411, 9.095, P<0.05). However, there were no significant differences between the CSF and NOM quadrants. The macular thickness of the PXG group was thinner than in the CON group in the NIM, SIM, TIM, IIM, NOM, SOM, TOM, and IOM quadrants (P<0.05). The macular volumes of the PXG group were smaller than in the CON group in the NIM, SIM, TIM, IIM, NOM, SOM, and IOM quadrants of (P<0.05). The macular thicknesses and macular volumes of the PXG group were thinner or smaller than in the PEX group for the SIM, IIM, and SOM quadrants (P<0.05). Conclusions: The macular thickness and volume becomes thinned in PXG, and monitoring the changes can provide important information for making a diagnosis of PXG. Key words: optical coherence tomography; pseudoexfoliation glaucoma; pseudoexfoliation syndrome; macular thickness; macular volume