Evaluation of macular and papillary morphometric parameters in amblyopic eyes

Purpose : To evaluate the macular and papillary parameters by spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) in children affected by amblyopia. Methods : 234 eyes of 117 children (102 male; mean age: 8,89 years) were divided into 4 groups: group 0 (162 healthy eyes of 81 subjects with both eyes without amblyopia); group 1 (32 healthy eyes of 32 subjects with monolateral amblyopia); group 2 (32 amblyopic eyes of 32 subjects with monolateral amblyopia), and group 3 (8 amblyopic eyes of 4 subjects with bilateral amblyopia). All the subjects were assessed for optic nerve head (ONH) parameters, retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness, ganglion cell complex (GCC) thickness, macular thickness at 3 and 5 mm from the fovea, and retina map and ONH scan quality index (SQI) by SD OCT iVue, Optovue (Fremont, CA; Optovue, Inc.). Two-sided p values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Stata 13 (Stata Corporation, College Station, 2014, Texas, USA) was used for all computations. Results : The rim area was 2.08 mm2 (Standard deviation, SD: 0.49) in group 0 and 1.76 mm2 (SD: 0.68) in group 2; the disc area was 2.43 mm2 (SD: 0.45) in group 0 and 2.02 mm2 (SD: 0.71) in group 2; the central macular thickness was 250.99 µm (SD:19.74) in group 0 and 267.16 µm (SD: 23.52) in group 2; the SQI ONH was 62.82 (SD: 13.15) in group 0, 51.26 (SD: 15.55) in group 2, 48.29 (SD: 14.37) in group 3; the SQI retina map was 63.34 (SD: 10.34) in group 0 and 57.34 (SD: 9.84) in group 2, leading to a statistically significant difference between the aforementioned groups (p<0.005). All other parameters (average RNFL thickness, average superior RNFL, average inferior RNFL, cup/disc area ratio, cup/disc vertical ratio, cup/disc horizontal ratio, cup volume, superior, inferior, nasal and temporal macular thickness at 3 and 5 mm from the fovea and GCC average thickness total, superior, and inferior) did not differ between the groups analysed (p>0,005). Conclusions : Amblyopia affects morphometric parameters of the ONH and of the macula and the quality of the images assessed by SD OCT.