Wide-field swept source optical coherence tomography evaluation of posterior segment changes in highly myopic eyes

Abstract

Background To investigate the features in the posterior pole of highly myopic (HM) eyes using a wide-field high-resolution swept source optical coherence tomography (SS OCT). Methods This observational cross-sectional study involved 262 eyes of 139 patients, who were diagnosed as HM and had consecutively been examined by SS OCT in the Ophthalmology Department of the Peking Union Medical College Hospital between March 2019 and December 2019. The characteristics of OCT images were documented and analyzed. Results In our study, SS OCT could demonstrate the entire layer of the choroid and detect the sclera in all eyes. The mean subfoveal retinal/choroidal/scleral thickness were 204.84 ± 119.86 μm, 92.80 ± 75.78 μm and 394.734 ± 123.09 μm, respectively. 138 eyes (52.67%) had posterior precortical vitreous pocket. Myopic foveoschisis was detected in 110 eyes (41.98%), and significantly associated with the presence of posterior staphyloma. 36 eyes (13.74%) had DSM in our study, of which 8 eyes (22.22%) showed a round dome, 16 (44.44%) were horizontal oval-shaped, 9 (25%) were vertical oval-shaped and 3 (8.34%) were oblique oval-shaped. Both SFCT and SFST were inversely and significantly associated with age and refractive errors. Macular neovascularization was significantly correlated with intrascleral vessels. Different deformation of the sclera and posterior staphyloma were vividly identified on SS OCT images. Conclusions This study provided a relatively comprehensive picture of posterior pole in HM eyes. Such good visualization of ocular fundus provided by wide-field SS OCT could be useful for the therapy option, disease condition monitoring and pathogenesis investigation.