Repeatability of retinal thickness and volume metrics in neovascular age-related macular degeneration using the topcon 3doct-1000

INTRODUCTION: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a commonly used imaging modality that provides detailed cross-sectional retinal images. This has revolutionised management of neovascular age-related macular degeneration. The need for repeated anti-vascular endothelial growth factor injections has led to therapy being delivered using OCT-guided retreatment strategies with both qualitative OCT features of disease activity (e.g. macular fluid) and changes in retinal thickness as triggers for retreatment The purpose of this study is to determine the intra-session repeatability of retinal thickness and volume measurements using the Topcon 3DOCT-1000 spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SDOCT) device in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD). This is the largest study to date looking specifically at the Topcon 3DOCT-1000. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two SDOCT raster scans were performed by the same blinded observer in the same sitting in consecutive patients attending for nAMD treatment as part of standard validation of a new device. Retrospective analysis was undertaken, with retinal thickness and volume measurements automatically calculated by the onboard software for each Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study subfield for each scan. Bland-Altman methods of analysis were used to assess repeatability. RESULTS: Data from the 73 patients were analyzed with a mean age of 78 years (standard deviation 8). The 95% coefficient of repeatability (CR) was 64 μm and 0.050 mm(3) for retinal thickness and volume respectively in the central 1 mm macular subfield. The CR did not exceed 85 μm (0.30 mm(3)) in any subfield. The revised CR for retinal thickness and volume for the subgroup of 37 patients with no segmentation error in the central 1 mm subfield was 53 μm and 0.050 mm(3) respectively. DISCUSSION: We report relatively modest intra-sessional repeatability of SDOCT retinal thickness and volume metrics in patients with nAMD in a clinical setting. Though useful in detecting clinical change from measurement variability in clinical practice, these results suggest the precision of macular thickness measurement does not approach the theoretical resolution of SDOCT.