Reproducibility of SD-OCT-based ganglion cell-layer thickness in glaucoma using two different segmentation algorithms.

PURPOSE

To compare the reproducibility of spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT)-based ganglion cell-layer-plus-inner plexiform-layer (GCL+IPL) thickness measurements for glaucoma patients obtained using both a publicly available and a commercially available algorithm.

METHODS

Macula SD-OCT volumes (200 × 200 × 1024 voxels, 6 × 6 × 2 mm(3)) were obtained prospectively from both eyes of patients with open-angle glaucoma or with suspected glaucoma on two separate visits within 4 months. The combined GCL+IPL thickness was computed for each SD-OCT volume within an elliptical annulus centered at the fovea, based on two algorithms: (1) a previously published graph-theoretical layer segmentation approach developed at the University of Iowa, and (2) a ganglion cell analysis module of version 6 of Cirrus software. The mean overall thickness of the elliptical annulus was computed as was the thickness within six sectors. For statistical analyses, eyes with an SD-OCT volume with low signal strength (<6), image acquisition errors, or errors in performing the commercial GCL+IPL analysis in at least one of the repeated acquisitions were excluded.

RESULTS

Using 104 eyes (from 56 patients) with repeated measurements, we found the intraclass correlation coefficient for the overall elliptical annular GCL+IPL thickness to be 0.98 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.97-0.99) with the Iowa algorithm and 0.95 (95% CI: 0.93-0.97) with the Cirrus algorithm; the intervisit SDs were 1.55 μm (Iowa) and 2.45 μm (Cirrus); and the coefficients of variation were 2.2% (Iowa) and 3.5% (Cirrus), P < 0.0001.

CONCLUSIONS

SD-OCT-based GCL+IPL thickness measurements in patients with early glaucoma are highly reproducible.