In vivo evaluation of a noninvasive method to measure the retinal thickness in primates
R. C. Zeimer, M. Shahidi, M. T. Mori and E. Benhamou
Department of Ophthalmology, Lions of Illinois Eye Research Institute, University of Illinois, Chicago College of Medicine 60612.
To diagnose certain macular diseases earlier and monitor their therapy more
sensitively, we are developing a noninvasive method to measure the retinal
thickness. The new instrument, which is an extension of slit-lamp
biomicroscopy, was used to obtain the data, which were analyzed with an
algorithm to yield thickness measurements. The measurements performed in
monkeys indicated that the retinal thickness can be visualized in a region
extending from the optic disc to the fovea and that quantitative results
can be obtained. The retinal thickness reproducibility was 6% for the same
location on the same day, 15% for the same location on different days, and
12% for the same location in different eyes. The average retinal thickness
in these areas was 335 microns, indicating that the reproducibility was
between 20 and 50 microns. Measurements across the foveola illustrated that
retinal thicknesses as low as 80 microns could be obtained.
