[Reproducibility of measurements of the peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer thickness. Optical coherence tomography versus retinal thickness analyzer].
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to compare the intra- and inter-examiner reproducibility of measurements obtained by optical coherence tomography (OCT) and retinal thickness analyzer (RTA).


METHODS
During a period of 2 months, 22 eyes of 16 patients and 6 healthy subjects were included. Two examiners (EMH, RK) successively performed three measurements of the peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) thickness with RTA and OCT. The reproducibility of three individual measurements of one examiner (intra-examiner) as well as the reproducibility of the measurements between both examiners (inter-examiner) was evaluated using the Friedman test and sign test.


RESULTS
The average thickness of the peripapillary RNFL was 154.4 microm for the first investigator (EMH) and 155.1 microm for the other investigator (RK) measured with RTA. The results obtained by OCT were 137.3 microm (EMH) and 138.9 microm (RK), respectively, generally indicating a threefold smaller range. Comparing the three measurements of one single examiner, no appreciable intra-observer dependency neither for RTA (EMH: p=0.19, RK: p=0.95) nor for OCT (EMH: p=0.51, RK: p=0.62) was observed. Inter-examiner analysis for RTA and OCT also revealed an acceptable reproducibility.


CONCLUSIONS
Measurements of peripapillary RNFL thickness using RTA and OCT exhibited intra- and inter-observer agreement.
Krist
R
R
Augenklinik, Universität, Mainz. krist@augen.klinik.uni-mainz.de
Hoffmann
E M
EM
Schwenn
O
O
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007834:Lasers; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D009898:Optic Disk / Q000473:pathology*; D009901:Optic Nerve Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D042262:Retinoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*