Macular retinal and choroidal thickness in unilateral relentless placoid chorioretinitis analyzed by swept-source optical coherence tomography

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the retinal and choroidal thickness of the macular region in patients with unilateral relentless placoid chorioretinitis (RPC) and macular involvement. Patients diagnosed with RPC affecting only one eye underwent a comprehensive ophthalmologic examination including best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), axial length (AL) measurement, slit-lamp examination, and color fundus and autofluorescence photography. The macular region was scanned by swept-source optical coherence tomography in the 1,050-nm wavelength. Automated segmentations of the retina and the choroid were used to obtain the corresponding thickness values. RESULTS: A total number of three patients (two men and one woman; age range 17 to 62 years) were included. Eyes with clinically evident RPC had a mean AL of 24.62 ± 0.11 mm, whereas in the clinically healthy fellow eyes, the mean AL was 24.65 ± 0.03 (p = 0.70). The mean BCVA was 0.93 ± 0.16 in eyes with RPC, and 1.0 in all the fellow eyes (p = 0.70). Slit-lamp examination did not reveal any sign of vitreous inflammation in any cases. The mean macular retinal thickness was 288.10 ± 10.22 μm in eyes with RPC, and 300.30 ± 7.17 μm in the healthy fellow eyes (p = 0.20). The mean central choroidal thickness was 260.70 ± 140.60 μm in eyes with RPC, and 262.30 ± 123.10 μm in the fellow eyes (p = 0.99). The mean macular choroidal thickness was 248.60 ± 128.40 and 255.10 ± 123.60 μm, respectively (p = 0.99). CONCLUSIONS: The pathogenesis of RPC remains unknown. No changes in the retinal and choroidal thickness were observed in the macular area of eyes diagnosed with RPC with macular involvement compared with the asymptomatic healthy fellow eyes. Further prospective studies are warranted in order to investigate the role of the choroid in cases of RPC.