The APOSTEL Recommendations

With continuous development of optical coherence tomography (OCT) devices and analysis software as well as an increasing number of quantitative OCT studies, there is an obvious need for standardized reporting recommendations. The Advised Protocol for OCT Study Terminology and Elements (APOSTEL) recommendations were developed by a panel of experienced OCT researchers in order to harmonize and improve the quality of reporting in quantitative OCT studies. They include a 9-point checklist of relevant aspects for reporting of quantitative OCT studies covering the areas of study protocol, acquisition device, acquisition settings, scanning protocol, fundoscopic imaging, post-acquisition data selection and analysis, recommended nomenclature, and statistical analysis. The recommendations help to improve the completeness of reporting of quantitative OCT studies, increasing the generalizability and interpretability in line with existing standards for reporting research in other biomedical areas.