Comparison of Spectralis and Cirrus spectral domain optical coherence tomography for the objective morphometric assessment of the neuroretinal rim width

Abstract

Purpose The assessment of cup-disc ratio as a surrogate parameter for the neuroretinal rim width (NRW) of the optic nerve is well established, but prone to human error and imprecision. Objective assessment of the NRW is provided by spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). This study is the first to systematically compare NRW measurements acquired with the Carl Zeiss Meditech Cirrus HD-OCT 5000 and the Heidelberg Engineering Spectralis SD-OCT. Methods In this cross-sectional study, 20 eyes of each 20 glaucoma patients and 20 age-matched healthy controls underwent ophthalmic examination, SD-OCT imaging, and computer perimetry. Regression analyses were performed for the NRW comparability and the effect of the rotational alignment disconcordance (RAD), receiver-operating characteristics (ROC) for NRWbased healthy glaucoma discrimination capability, and Pearson's correlation for covariate association. Results Mean NRW differences were 8 ± 48 μm (p = 0.4528), 91 ± 80 μm (p < 0.01), and 49 ± 77 μm (p < 0.001) in the glaucoma, healthy, and whole group. On average, the Cirrus showed higher NRW values (+ 50 μm) than the Spectralis, this difference increased with values starting with 159 μm. Discrimination ROC were 1.0 (Spectralis) and 0.9675 (Cirrus). RAD showed very little effect on NRW (R 2 = 0.9661, p < 0.001). NRW-covariate correlation was highly significant (p < 0.001) with both devices for clinical cup/disc ratio, calculated rim width, visual field mean, and pattern deviations. Conclusions Our results suggest to only cautiously compare Spectralis and Cirrus NRW measurements only in patients with morphologically manifest glaucoma. For morphological progression analysis, we recommend the continuous usage of the same device.

Sodium Hyaluronate-Induced Ocular Hypertension in Rats Damages the Direction-Selective Circuit and Inner/Outer Retinal Plexiform Layers

“…Traditionally, glaucoma has been considered as a disease specifically of RGCs, 24 – 27 although a growing number of studies support the notion that other retinal cell types may be affected in glaucoma pathology. 22 , 28 , 29 In this context, anomalies in electroretinography responses, including alterations in the a- and b-waves, scotopic threshold responses, and oscillatory potentials, have been described in both human disease and in experimental CG models, 12 , 22 , 30 – 35 suggesting dysfunction in different retinal cell types.…”

Determination of retinal nerve fibre layer and ganglion cell/inner plexiform layers progression rates using two optical coherence tomography systems: The PROGRESSA study

“…The GCL/IPL thickness ranges of the current study are in line with the previous glaucoma literature from both Cirrus 22,23 and Spectralis 24 studies. Furthermore, a trend of thicker Cirrus measurements compared with Spectralis has been shown in a neuroretinal rim‐width study of glaucoma patients and healthy controls 25 …”

Comparison of Spectralis and Cirrus Optical Coherence Tomography for the Detection of Incomplete and Complete Retinal Pigment Epithelium and Outer Retinal Atrophy

“…13,15,18 Quantitative measurements of neuroretinal rim width or peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thicknesses have also demonstrated significantly different values between devices. 19,20 It has been suggested that the differences in resolution between devices can impact the performance of segmentation algorithms, thereby resulting in different layer thickness values.…”