2M.D. Associate Professor, Erciyes University Faculty of Medicine Department of Ophthalmology, Kayseri/TURKEY Purpose: Evaluating choroidal thickness measurements in patients with dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Material and Methods: The choroidal thickness measurements were performed in 54 eyes of 30 cases with dry AMD using Enhanced depth imaging (EDI) mode of spectral domain optic coherence tomography (SD-OCT), (Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany) in retina division of our ophthalmology department. Choroidal thickness was measured from the posterior edge of the retinal pigment epithelium to the choroid-sclera junction. The measurement values obtained from the dry AMD cases were compared with 40 eyes of 20 age-matched healthy controls.
Results: The mean ages were 70.4±4.1 years in dry AMD patients and 68.2±5.5 years in the control group. The mean visual acuity values were 0.26±0.29 logMar in dry AMD group and 0.03±0.05 logMar in the control group and the values in dry AMD group were found to be statistically lower than the control group (p<0.05). The mean choroidal thickness measurements were 214.28±86.88 microns in AMD group and 326.23±45.98 microns in the control group. The choroid was significantly thinner in the AMD group than the control group (p<0.05). A positive correlation was observed between the visual acuity values and the choroidal thickness in AMD group.
Conlusion: In dry AMD group, the choroid was thinner than healthy control group. This finding may be the result of the progression of the disease.
Keywords : Choroidal thickness, dry type age-related macular degeneration, optic chorence tomography