Visual Acuity in Pathological Myopia Is Correlated With the Photoreceptor Myoid and Ellipsoid Zone Thickness and Affected by Choroid Thickness.

Abstract

Purpose:

To quantify the thickness of the outer retinal sublayers and choroid in pathological myopia and examine associations between these factors and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA).

Methods:

The cohort was composed of 21 eyes with emmetropia and 70 eyes with high myopia (49 simple high myopia; 21 pathological myopia). Optical coherence tomography images were segmented to determine macular thicknesses of the choroid and the following outer retinal sublayers: outer plexiform layer (OPL), Henle fiber layer and outer nuclear layer (HFL + ONL), myoid and ellipsoid zone (MEZ), outer segment of photoreceptors (OS), and interdigitation zone and RPE/Bruch complex (IZ + RPE). Correlations between BCVA and thickness of the outer retinal sublayers and choroid were determined.

Results:

In pathological myopia, the choroid, HFL + ONL, MEZ, and IZ + RPE were thinner than in emmetropia and simple high myopia (P < 0.05). Simple and multiple regression models showed that MEZ thickness was correlated with BCVA (both P < 0.001). The relationship between MEZ thickness and BCVA varied with choroidal thickness (P = 0.006). For a constant MEZ thickness, thinner choroids were associated with worse vision. In the final multiple regression predictive model, MEZ thickness, choroidal thickness, and interaction between MEZ and choroidal thickness (all P < 0.001) were predictors of BCVA.

Conclusions:

Outer retinal alterations, especially thinning of the MEZ, occurred in pathological myopia. The MEZ thickness was associated with BCVA, and this relationship was affected by choroidal thickness.

• Authors: Jie Ye, Meixiao Shen, Shenghai Huang, Yuchen Fan, Aixia Yao, Chen Pan, Xiutong Shi, Fan Lu, Yilei Shao
• Journal: Investigative ophthalmology & visual science (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci) Vol. 60 Issue 5 Pg. 1714-1723 (04 01 2019) ISSN: 1552-5783 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 31013344 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Topics

• Adult
• Choroid (diagnostic imaging, pathology)
• Cross-Sectional Studies
• Emmetropia (physiology)
• Female
• Humans
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Myopia, Degenerative (diagnostic imaging, physiopathology)
• Organ Size
• Photoreceptor Cells, Vertebrate (pathology)
• Prospective Studies
• Tomography, Optical Coherence
• Visual Acuity (physiology)