Thickness Of Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer In The Children’s Eyes With Myopia And Emmetropia Measured By FD-OCT

Objective To measure the thickness of retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness in thechildren’s eyes with myopia and emmetropia by using Fourier-domain Optical coherencetomography (FD-OCT), to study the characteristics of children’s RNFL distribution, and to analyzethe correlation between RNFL thickness and diopter or axial length, respectively.Methods59children at the age of4-15year-old were divided by two groups’ myopic (61eyes)and emmetropic (22eyes) group.26eyes are mild myopia,18eyes are moderate myopia,17eyesare high myopia and22eyes are normal control. LRTVue-FD-OCT was used to measure theaverage thickness at eight different quadrants of RNFL（TU, ST, SN, NU, NL, IN, IT, TL）aroundthe optic papilla. Statistic analysis on the thickness of RNFL and the relationship between thethickness of RNFL and correspongding diopters in each group was performed using software ofSPSS16.0.Results The average thickness of RNFL in normal eyes is112.77±10.30μm. The thicknesscurve at eight quandrants around the optic disc showed a doulble-hump pattern with4.13±18.99μm，157.08±22.28μm，157.08±22.28μm，131.50±20.77μm，70.34±13.27μm，65.34±13.91μm，129.71±20.98μm，166.82±20.11μm，88.00±16.95μm，112.87±10.38μmrespectively. The average thickness of RNFL is6.77±8.6μm in mild myopia,101.37±8.88μm inmoderate myopia and85.64±10.58μm in high myopia respectively. There is a significant differencebetween myopic and emmetropic group (F=22.860，P=0.000). Further statistic analysis showed thesignificant differences (F=23.177，P=0.000；F=11.778，P=0.000；F=8.573，P=0.000，F=5.813，P=0.001，F=5.139，P=0.003，F=11.091，P=0.000，F=22.860，P=0.000) among6quadrants exceptTU(F=1.394，P=0.252）and TL（F=2.337，P=0.081. The correlation analysis on the averagethickness of RNFL and the corresponding diopter showed a result of Y=-3.762x+115.3, R=-0.787，P﹤0.05; The correlation analysis on the average thickness of RNFL and the eye axial length showed a result of Y=-6.886x+268.4(R=-0.798, P﹤0.05).Conclusions The thickness curve of RNFL in emmetropic and myopic eyes showed adouble-hump pattern with the thickest RNFL at the superior and inferior retina of the optic disc andthe thinnest RNFL at the temperoal and nasal retina of the optic disc.There is a negative correlationbetween the thickness of RNFL and diopter or axial length, respectively. RNFL becomes thinnerwhen the ocular axial length is longer.