title: Evaluation of peripapillary choroidal thickness in unilateral normal-tension glaucoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the association of normal-tension glaucoma and peripapillary choroidal thickness.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty-one patients with normal-tension glaucoma in one eye.
  
  
  METHODS
  Spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) scans were obtained to estimate peripapillary choroidal thickness in a group of unilateral normal-tension glaucoma patients. The average peripapillary choroidal thicknesses of the glaucomatous eye and the nonglaucomatous eye of each patient were compared, and the choroidal thickness underlying the retinal nerve fiber layer defect in the glaucomatous eye was compared with the choroidal thickness of a compatible position in the contralateral normal eye. The associations of peripapillary choroidal thickness with independent parameters including the presence of glaucoma, age, sex, refractive error, axial length, central corneal thickness, intraocular pressure, visual field mean deviation, visual field pattern standard deviation, and systemic disease were assessed with mixed model univariate and multivariate analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average peripapillary choroidal thickness was not statistically significantly different in the glaucomatous and nonglaucomatous eyes of the patients (P = 0.52). There was no definite difference between the choroidal thickness underlying the retinal nerve fiber layer defect in the glaucomatous eye and the choroidal thickness of a compatible position in the contralateral normal eye, indicating that there was no correlation of the retinal nerve fiber layer with choroidal thickness. Age (P = 0.004) and axial length (P ≤ 0.0001) were negatively associated with peripapillary choroidal thickness.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In unilateral normal tension glaucoma, there was no significant intereye difference in choroidal thickness measured with SD-OCT. The structural features of the choroid may not be associated with normal-tension glaucoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Dongtan Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University College of Medicine, Hwaseong, Korea.
authors.forename: Wool
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Suh
authors.forename: Hyun Kyung
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Changwon
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kee
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D058452:Axial Length, Eye / Q000503:physiopathology; D002829:Choroid / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007429:Intraocular Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D057066:Low Tension Glaucoma / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000473:pathology; D009898:Optic Disk; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012030:Refractive Errors / Q000503:physiopathology; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000473:pathology; D012737:Sex Factors; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D014792:Visual Acuity