Relationship between automated choroidal thickness measurements and retinal sensitivity using microperimetry in patients with myopia and different stages of myopic maculopathy

Fillipe de Biaggi Borges da Silva; Luis Claudio Pimentel Silva; Leonardo Provetti Cunha; Leandro Cabral Zacharias; Eduardo V Navajas; Mario L R Monteiro; Rony C Preti

doi:10.1186/s40942-024-00541-9

Relationship between automated choroidal thickness measurements and retinal sensitivity using microperimetry in patients with myopia and different stages of myopic maculopathy

Int J Retina Vitreous. 2024 Mar 8;10(1):26. doi: 10.1186/s40942-024-00541-9.

Authors

Fillipe de Biaggi Borges da Silva¹, Luis Claudio Pimentel Silva¹, Leonardo Provetti Cunha^{1

2}, Leandro Cabral Zacharias¹, Eduardo V Navajas³, Mario L R Monteiro¹, Rony C Preti⁴

Affiliations

¹ Division of Ophthalmology, University of São Paulo Medical School, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
² Division of Ophthalmology, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
³ Division of Ophthalmology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
⁴ Division of Ophthalmology, University of São Paulo Medical School, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. preti@usp.br.

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the relationship between macular choroidal thickness (CT) measurements and retinal sensitivity (RS) in eyes with myopia and different stages of myopic maculopathy.

Methods: A masked, cross-sectional, and consecutive study involving patients with emmetropia/myopia (control group) and high myopia (HM) eyes. Automated choroidal thickness (CT) and manual outer retinal layer (ORL) thickness were acquired using swept-source optical coherence tomography, while retinal sensitivity (RS) assessed by microperimetry (MP3) in all regions of the macular Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) grid. Comparisons were made between groups, and correlations were performed among these measurements, demographic and ocular parameters and myopic maculopathy classification.

Results: A total of 37 (74 eyes) patients were included in the study. The mean age was 39 ± 13 years, and 28 patients (76%) were female. HM eyes exhibited inferior best-corrected visual acuity and a more advanced myopic maculopathy classification compared to the control group. The mean macular CT were 255 and 179 μm in the control and HM eyes (P < 0.001), respectively. In the HM eyes, superior ETDRS region presented the greatest values. Mean RS in control and HM groups was 28 and 24 dB (P = 0.001), respectively. Inner temporal followed by superior, were the regions of higher RS. Mean ORL thickness was 83 and 79 μm (P < 0.001), in the control and HM groups, respectively. The inner temporal ETDRS region presented the thickest measure. CT correlated significantly with RS (r = 0.41, P < 0.001) and ORL thickness, (r = 0.58, P < 0.001), which also correlated with RS (r = 0.40, P < 0.001). Spherical equivalent, axial length and myopic maculopathy stage were the parameters that most correlated with CT, RS and ORL thickness. For every 100 μm increase in thickening of CT there was an average increase of 3.4 μm in ORL thickness and 2.7 dB in RS. Myopic maculopathy classification demonstrated influence only with CT.

Conclusion: Myopia degree is related to ORL and choroidal thinning and deterioration of retinal sensitivity in some ETDRS regions of the macula. Choroidal thinning is associated to with a decline of retinal sensitivity, thinning of ORL, and worsening of myopic maculopathy classification, so new treatments are necessary to prevent myopia progression.

Keywords: High myopia; Microperimetry; Myopia; Optical coherence tomography; Pathologic myopia; Retinal sensitivity.