Is choroidal thickness different between glaucoma patients and healthy subjects

Purpose The aim of our study was to evaluate and compare choroidal thickness (CT) of healthy subjects and primary open-angle glaucoma patients with spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and to seek a correlation between CT and glaucoma severity. Methods Sixty-five healthy eyes, 27 eyes with early glaucoma , 21 eyes with moderate glaucoma and 30 eyes with advanced glaucoma were included in this cross-sectional study (one eye per patient). Retro-foveolar CT, foveolar retinal thickness and average retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFL) were measured by SD-OCT. Humphrey 24-2 visual field was also performed and mean defect (MD)recorded. Spherical equivalent (SE) was measured with automatic refractometer. Results Average retro-foveolar CT was statistically lower in glaucoma patients than in healthy subjects p=0.0023. The CT was not different according to glaucoma stage (p=0.078). We found a statistically significant correlation between CT and MD (p = 0.040), but not with CT and age (p=0.053), CT and retinal foveolar thickness (p=0,789), CT and RNFL thickness (p=0.732) and CT and SE (p=0.202). Conclusion This preliminary study showed that retro-foveolar CT measured by SD-OCT was significantly thinner in glaucomatous patients than in healthy subjects.