Association between ganglion cell complex and axial length.

PURPOSE

We evaluated the association between each layer of macular ganglion cell complex (mGCC) and axial length measured with spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT).

METHODS

One hundred and one eyes of 101 healthy younger women were assessed in this prospective study. In one eye, mGCC was measured two times with 3D-OCT 2000 (Topcon). The associations between mGCC and axial length were analyzed using single regression analysis. To support the data of this study, repeatability also was assessed by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), coefficient of variance (CoV), and test-retest standard deviation (TRTSD).

RESULTS

In each layer of the mGCC, ICC ranged from 0.980 to 0.997; CoV ranged from 0.8 to 2.4 %; TRTSD ranged from 0.8 to 3.0 μm. For every 1 mm of greater axial length, total macular retinal nerve fiber layer (mRNFL) thickness increased by 1.1 μm (p < 0.01), and total macular ganglion cell layer and inner plexiform layer (mGCL+) and mGCC thickness decreased by 2.5 μm (p < 0.001) and 1.4 μm (p = 0.018), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

In healthy younger participants, mGCC measurement using 3D OCT-2000 showed good repeatability. As axial length increased, total mGCC decreased, whereas total mRNFL and mGCL+ showed an inverse correlation.