Objectives:

To investigate the effect of pupillary dilation on peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness measurements taken by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT).

Ma­te­ri­als and Met­hods:

Forty-five eyes of 23 patients with primary open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension were included in this study. Peripapillary RNFL thickness measurements were taken before and after pupillary dilation using Spectralis OCT (Spectralis HRA+OCT, Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany). Temporal quadrant (T), temporal superior quadrant (TS), temporal inferior quadrant (TI), nasal quadrant (N), nasal superior quadrant (NS), nasal inferior quadrant (NI), and global (G) RNFL thickness values were evaluated and compared before and after dilation. Paired-sample t-test was used for the statistical analysis.

Re­sults:

Of the 23 patients, 12 (52.2%) were male and 11 were female. Mean age was 64.7±9.0 years. Before dilation, mean RNFL thickness was 66.8±15.6 μ in T, 111.2±29.7 μ in TS, 123.0±32.9 μ in TI, 67.0±15.4 μ in N, 97.7±40.4 μ in NS, 94.8±25.2 μ in NI, and 86.2±15.4 μ in G. After dilation, mean RNFL thickness was 66.7±14.3 μ in T, 112.3±29.4 μ in TS, 122.1±31.1 μ in TI, 67.2±16.9 μ in N, 92.8±28.2 μ in NS, 96.2±41.2 μ in NI, and 86.6±17.0 μ in G. No statistically significant difference was found before and after dilation in global RNFL thickness measurement and in RNFL thickness measurement of each quadrant (p>0.05).

Conclusion:

Pupillary dilation has no significant effect on peripapillary RNFL thickness measurements taken with Spectralis OCT.

Keywords: Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness, optical coherence tomography, glaucoma