2Selcuk University Faculty of Medicine, Ophthalmology, Konya, Türkiye
3Private Practice, Ophthalmology, Konya, Türkiye DOI : 10.37845/ret.vit.2026.35.20 Purpose: To investigate the ganglion cell–inner plexiform layer (GCIPL), ganglion cell complex (GCC), and choroidal thickness change by swept-source optical coherence tomography (OCT) in fellow eyes of cases with unilateral branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO).
Materials and Methods: This retrospective and observational study was performed on 32 patients who had been newly diagnosed with unilateral BRVO. Measurements were obtained using the swept-source OCT Triton device (Topcon Corp., Tokyo, Japan). The thicknesses of the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer, GCIPL, GCC, and choroidal thickness changes in the patients’ fellow eyes were compared with the values of the age- and sex-matched healthy control group.
Results: The means of the GCIPL central, GCC central, GCC superior, and GCC temporal values of the fellow eyes of the BRVO cases were significantly higher than those of the control group (p = 0.037, p = 0.004, p = 0.021, and p = 0.038, respectively). In all the sector analyses of choroidal thickness, statistically lower results were observed in the fellow eyes of the BRVO patients compared to the control group (p < 0.05). Mean central macular thickness increased from the time of diagnosis to the first- and sixth-month measurements, and the sixth-month value was significantly higher than the initial one (p = 0.013).
Conclusion: The fellow eyes of unilateral BRVO patients showed inner retinal structural differences compared to the eyes of healthy subjects. Subclinical retinal changes and changes in choroidal thickness may develop in the fellow eyes of BRVO cases during followup.
Keywords : retinal vein occlusion, optical coherence tomography, ganglion cell complex, choroidal thickness, macular segmentation