title: Anomalous relation between axial length and retinal thickness in amblyopic children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the relationship between retinal thickness and axial length in amblyopic eyes compared to healthy eyes.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this observational, transversal study, 36 amblyopic children and 30 healthy controls underwent full ophthalmological and orthoptic examinations, volume scanning of the macula with spectral domain optical coherence tomography (3D OCT-1000; Topcon Corporation, Tokyo, Japan), and measuring of axial length using the IOLMaster (Carl Zeiss Meditec AG, Jena, Germany). The average pericentral retinal thickness was calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A strong correlation was observed between the axial lengths of both eyes in the control group (R = 0.98, P < 0.01) and between the axial lengths of the amblyopic and fellow eye in the amblyopic group (R = 0.77, P < 0.01); the amblyopic and their fellow eyes were significantly shorter than the nonamblyopic control eyes. The pericentral retinal thickness of both eyes of an individual is highly correlated in nonamblyopic controls (R = 0.92, P < 0.01) and in amblyopic children (R = 0.82, P < 0.01). There is no significant difference in mean pericentral retinal thickness between healthy, amblyopic, and fellow eyes. In healthy eyes a moderate inverse correlation exists between axial length and pericentral retinal thickness (R = -0.41, P = 0.02); this relationship was not found in the amblyopic eyes or the normal fellow eye.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this patient cohort, there was an anomalous relation between the axial length and the pericentral retinal thickness in both amblyopic and their fellow eyes.
authors: Department of Ophthalmology, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Electronic address: p.h.kok@amc.nl.
authors: Pauline H B
authors: PH
authors: Kok
authors: Roy
authors: R
authors: de Kinkelder
authors: Yvette C
authors: YC
authors: Braaksma-Besselink
authors: Jeroen
authors: J
authors: Kalkman
authors: Liesbeth J J M
authors: LJ
authors: Prick
authors: Marije L
authors: ML
authors: Sminia
authors: Maarten Ph
authors: MP
authors: Mourits
authors: Frank D
authors: FD
authors: Verbraak
mesh_terms: D000550:Amblyopia / Q000473:pathology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D058452:Axial Length, Eye; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008266:Macula Lutea / Q000473:pathology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D014792:Visual Acuity