title: Peripapillary RNFL Thickness Changes after Panretinal Photocoagulation.
abstract: To evaluate changes in peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness as determined by spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) after panretinal photocoagulation (PRP) for proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR).
  
  
  
  Forty-two eyes of 42 diabetic patients who were scheduled for PRP were enrolled in this interventional case series. Peripapillary RNFL thickness was measured using SD-OCT (OCT 1000; Topcon Co., Tokyo, Japan) at baseline and 1, 3, and 6 months after PRP.
  
  
  
  Mean global RNFL thickness was increased significantly by 3 μm (p = 0.04) 1 month after PRP and was then decreased marginally significantly by 2.4 μm at 6 months (p = 0.054) as compared to baseline values. After 1 month, RNFL thickness was increased in all quadrants, but only changes in the temporal quadrant were significant (p = 0.009). At 6 months, progressive RNFL thinning occurred in all quadrants; however, only changes in the superior quadrant were significant (p = 0.041). Visual acuity was improved by an average of 0.02 logMAR after 6 months, but this change was not statistically significant.
  
  
  
  Shortly after PRP, RNFL thickness (as determined by SD-OCT) increases, but a decrease in RNFL thickness occurs at 6 months post-PRP. RNFL thickness changes based on OCT should be interpreted with caution in diabetic eyes undergoing PRP.
authors.affiliation: *MD Ocular Tissue Engineering Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (SY); and Ophthalmic Research Center, Labbafinejad Medical Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (SY, PS, MP, HE, EG, RN).
authors.forename: Shahin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yazdani
authors.forename: Poorya
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Samadi
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pakravan
authors.forename: Hamed
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Esfandiari
authors.forename: Elham
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ghahari
authors.forename: Ramin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nourinia
mesh_terms: D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D017075:Laser Coagulation / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000473:pathology*; D009898:Optic Disk / Q000473:pathology; D012160:Retina / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D013997:Time Factors; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*; D014792:Visual Acuity