Macular choroidal thickness and volume in normal subjects measured by swept-source optical coherence tomography.

PURPOSE To study the choroidal thickness in healthy subjects by swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) at longer wavelength. METHODS The macular area of 31 eyes (31 healthy volunteers) was studied with an SS-OCT prototype system, which uses a tunable laser as a light source operated at 100,000 Hz A scan repetition rate in the 1-μm wavelength region. Three-dimensional volumetric measurement comprised of 512 × 128 A scans was acquired in 0.8 second. From a series of OCT images, a chroidal thickness map of the macular area was created by manual segmentation. To evaluate interoperator reproducibility, the choroidal thickness in each section from 10 subjects was determined independently by two observers. RESULTS SS-OCT at the 1-μm wavelength region allowed visualization of the fine structure of the choroid as well as that of the retina. Mean choroidal thickness and volume in the macula area were, respectively, 191.5 ± 74.2 μm and 5.411 ± 2.097 mm(3). The mean choroidal thickness of the outer nasal area was significantly thinner than that of all other areas (P < 0.05). The measurements by the two independent observers were significantly identical; the intraclass correlation coefficient in mean choroidal thickness was between 0.945 and 0.980 in each area. The macular choroidal thickness was significantly correlated with axial length after adjustment for age (P < 0.001), and with age after adjustment for axial length (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS SS-OCT system at 1 μm provides macular choroidal thickness maps and allows one to evaluate the choroidal thickness more accurately.