Background/aims: The purpose of the study was to create a standardised protocol for choroidal thickness measurements and to determine whether choroidal thickness measurements made on images obtained by spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and swept source (SS-) OCT from patients with healthy retina are interchangeable when performed manually or with an automatic algorithm.
Methods: 36 grid cell measurements for choroidal thickness for each volumetric scan were obtained, which were measured for SD-OCT and SS-OCT with two methods on 18 eyes of healthy volunteers. Manual segmentation by experienced retinal graders from the Vienna Reading Center and automated segmentation on >6300 images of the choroid from both devices were statistically compared.
Results: Model-based comparison between SD-OCT/SS-OCT showed a systematic difference in choroidal thickness of 16.26±0.725 μm (p<0.001) for manual segmentation and 21.55±0.725 μm (p<0.001) for automated segmentation. Comparison of automated with manual segmentations revealed small differences in thickness of -0.68±0.513 μm (p=0.1833). The correlation coefficients for SD-OCT and SS-OCT measures within eyes were 0.975 for manual segmentation and 0.955 for automatic segmentation.
Conclusion: Choroidal thickness measurements of SD-OCT and SS-OCT indicate that these two devices are interchangeable with a trend of choroidal thickness measurements being slightly thicker on SD-OCT with limited clinical relevance. Use of an automated algorithm to segment choroidal thickness was validated in healthy volunteers.
Keywords: Choroid; Imaging.
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