Comparison of choroidal thickness among patients with healthy eyes, early age-related maculopathy, neovascular age-related macular degeneration, central serous chorioretinopathy, and polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy

Purpose: To compare choroidal thicknesses among eyes with early age-related maculopathy (ARM), neovascular age-related macular degeneration, polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy, and central serous chorioretinopathy. Methods: Patients with age-related maculopathy (37 eyes), neovascular age-related macular degeneration (24 eyes), polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (12 eyes), and central serous chorioretinopathy (31 eyes) underwent spectral-domain optical coherence tomography evaluations using a choroid scanning protocol. A horizontal linear section comprising 50 averaged scans was obtained of each macula. The choroidal thickness was measured from the outer border of the retinal pigment epithelium to the inner scleral border. Twenty-nine subjects with healthy eyes served as a control group. Analysis of covariance tests were performed to evaluate the effects of various diagnoses on choroidal thickness after removal of variance (covariates = gender, age, and refractive error). Results: Among the different covariates, age was associated with choroidal thickness (fovea: F = 12.067, P = 0.001). After controlling for age differences, the choroid was thicker in polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (319.92 ± 68.66 μm) and central serous chorioretinopathy (367.81 ± 105.56 μm) patients than in controls (241.97 ± 66.37 μm) and age-related maculopathy patients (186.62 ± 64.02 μm). However, there were no significant differences in mean choroidal thickness between neovascular age-related macular degeneration (226.46 ± 102.87 μm) and any of the other diagnoses. Conclusion: The choroid was thicker in eyes with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy or central serous chorioretinopathy than in control or age-related maculopathy groups.