title: Macular and peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer thickness in patients with cyanotic congenital heart disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate macular and retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) measurements in patients with cyanotic congenital heart disease (cCHD) using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT).
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty patients with cCHD (18 females and 12 males, mean age 10.9 years) and 60 healthy controls (35 females and 25 males, mean age 11.2 years) underwent complete ophthalmologic examination and OCT measurements of macular and peripapillary RNFL thickness.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with cCHD had significantly thinner measurements in all macular subfields compared with healthy controls (P<0.001). There was no significant difference in peripapillary RNFL thickness between the two groups, with the exception of the upper quadrant, for which thickness measurements were higher in patients with cCHD (P=0.021).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with cCHD showed a significant decrease in macular thickness and a thickened superior quadrant RNFL thickness when compared with healthy controls. This may represent the damage caused by the effect of hypoxia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Fundação Altino Ventura, Recife, Brazil.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: de Aguiar Remigio
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil.
authors.forename: C T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Brandt
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Instituto de Medicina Integral Prof. Fernando Figueira, Recife, Brazil.
authors.forename: C C L
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Fundação Altino Ventura, Recife, Brazil.
authors.forename: T E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Arantes
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil.
authors.forename: M I R
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: de Aguiar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000473:pathology*; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D014792:Visual Acuity