title: Senile retinoschisis versus retinal detachment, the additional value of peripheral retinal OCT scans (SL SCAN-1, Topcon).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A peripheral senile retinoschisis is sometimes difficult to distinguish from a retinal detachment by biomicroscopy alone. This study evaluated spectral domain OCT (SD-OCT) scans of the far peripheral retina to improve the differentiation between these diseases.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients were included in whom the distinction between retinal detachment and senile retinoschisis was not clear based on biomicroscopy alone, or who had a presumed clinical diagnosis of senile retinoschisis. OCT scans were made with the SLSCAN-1, through a hand-held lens and a 3-mirror contact lens, while the area of interest was simultaneously observed with the slit lamp. The SLSCAN-1 is a SD-OCT integrated into a slit lamp, superluminescent diode light source with a central wavelength of 830 nm, bandwidth 30 nm, scan resolution 8-9 μm in tissue, scan depth 2 mm, scan speed 5000 A-scans per second.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the 11 patients with an uncertain diagnosis, OCT scans showed a senile retinoschisis in four and a retinal detachment in seven patients. Fifteen of the 18 patients with a presumed diagnosis of retinoschisis showed a retinoschisis on OCT. In five of them, the OCT scans revealed a schisis detachment. Interestingly, three of the 18 patients had a retinal detachment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Senile retinoschisis may mimic a peripheral retinal detachment and vice versa. Differentiation is important with respect to therapeutic decisions. OCT scans of the far peripheral retina, which can be made with the SLSCAN-1 through a 3-mirror contact lens, can contribute significantly to this differentiation. The obtained scans of the far peripheral retina clearly visualize the anatomic differences between both diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The NetherlandsDepartment of Biomedical Engineering and Physics, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marilette
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stehouwer
authors.forename: Stevie H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Ton G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: van Leeuwen
authors.forename: Frank D
authors.initials: FD
authors.lastname: Verbraak
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012160:Retina / Q000473:pathology*; D012162:Retinal Degeneration / Q000175:diagnosis*; D041441:Retinoschisis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000295:instrumentation*
keywords: SL SCAN-1; integrated SD-OCT into a slit lamp; optical coherence tomography; retinal detachment; senile retinoschisis