Abstract

BAQUERO ARANDA, IM; MORILLO SANCHEZ, MJ  and  GARCIA CAMPOS, JM. Use of Optical Coherence Tomography to study variations of normal parameters with age. Arch Soc Esp Oftalmol [online]. 2005, vol.80, n.4, pp.225-231. ISSN 0365-6691.

Purpose: To determine by Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) the variation of a variety of measurable parameters (macular thickness, retinal parapapillary fiber layer thickness and optic disc morphology) with age. Method: We carried out OCT in 40 normal subjects (80 eyes) aged between 20 and 60 years, divided into 4 groups according to the age decades. Results: Statistically significant differences were found in the macular thickness in the comparative study groups but the differences varied according to the sector assessed; the superior outer sector (p=0.00), temporal outer sector (p=0.01), temporal inner sector (p=0.04), nasal inner sector (p=0.03) and inferior inner sector (p=0.00). In the study of retinal parapapillary fiber layer thickness, statistically significant differences were found between groups in the inferior sector only (p=0.04). No statistically significant differences were found between groups in the study of optic disc morphology. Conclusions: Both the macular thickness and the nerve fiber layer in the inferior sector decrease with age. These differences in thickness are statistically significant between the extremes of age decades.

Keywords : Optical Coherence Tomography; age; macular thickness; retinal fiber layer thickness.