title: Peripapillary choroidal thickness in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the peripapillary choroidal thickness of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) via enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography (EDI-OCT).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 80 patients with COPD (80 eyes) and 50 control subjects (50 eyes) were enrolled. Choroidal scans and the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness were obtained for all eyes using OCT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average peripapillary choroidal thickness measurements of the COPD group (147.58 ± 53.53 μm) were lower than the control group (160.84 ± 44.73 μm) (p = 0.068). Inferior segment thicknesses were significantly thinner than the other segments (p < 0.05). Subfoveal choroidal thickness and RNFL thickness measurements of the COPD group were also lower than those of the control group (p = 0.111).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hypoxia in COPD seems to affect the choroidal thickness. Thinning of the choroid may be attributed to increased vascular resistance and reduced blood flow in patients with COPD. The possible effects of the disease to the eye may be clarified through the role of the choroidal vasculature in the blood supply of the anterior optic nerve head.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Ophthalmology and.
authors.forename: Muammer
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ozcimen
authors.affiliation: a Department of Ophthalmology and.
authors.forename: Yasar
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sakarya
authors.affiliation: b Department of Chest Medicine , Konya Training and Research Hospital , Konya , Turkey .
authors.forename: Ercan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kurtipek
authors.affiliation: b Department of Chest Medicine , Konya Training and Research Hospital , Konya , Turkey .
authors.forename: Taha T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Bekci
authors.affiliation: a Department of Ophthalmology and.
authors.forename: Sertan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goktas
authors.affiliation: a Department of Ophthalmology and.
authors.forename: Rabia
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sakarya
authors.affiliation: c Department of Ophthalmology , Medicana Hospital , Konya , Turkey , and.
authors.forename: Halil I
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Yener
authors.affiliation: d Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine , Necmettin Erbakan University , Konya , Turkey.
authors.forename: Lutfi S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Demir
authors.affiliation: a Department of Ophthalmology and.
authors.forename: Erkan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Erdogan
authors.affiliation: a Department of Ophthalmology and.
authors.forename: Ismail S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Ivacik
authors.affiliation: a Department of Ophthalmology and.
authors.forename: Ismail
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Alpfidan
authors.affiliation: a Department of Ophthalmology and.
authors.forename: Abdulkadir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bukus
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002829:Choroid / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000473:pathology; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000473:pathology*; D012160:Retina / Q000473:pathology; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence
keywords: Choroid; hypoxia; optical coherence tomography; pulmonary disease