Reproducibility of retinal mapping using optical coherence tomography.

Objective: To assess the reproducibility of retinal thickness measurement using commercially available mapping software of optical coherence tomography (OCT).

Methods: Six radial scans, 6 mm long and centered on the fixation point, were performed on 10 eyes of 10 healthy volunteers and 10 eyes of 10 diabetic patients with clinically significant macular edema. Retinal thickness was measured automatically using the mapping software of OCT in the 9 macular Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study areas and in a central area 500 microm in diameter. Measurement reproducibility was tested by means of 3 series of scans performed by 2 different observers on 2 different days. Results were assessed by their repeatability and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs).

Results: In healthy subjects, intraobserver, interobserver, and intervisit reproducibility of retinal thickness measurements were excellent, with a repeatability coefficient of less than 7 microm and ICCs of greater than 0.89. In diabetic patients, the repeatability coefficient was less than 21 microm in all areas of the macula except one, with an ICC of greater than 0.98. Relative variations in measurements were small in both healthy and diabetic subjects, with reproducibilities of +/- 5% and +/- 6%, respectively.

Conclusion: Retinal mapping software of OCT allows reproducible measurement of retinal thickness in both healthy subjects and diabetic patients with macular edema.