Optical Coherence Tomography Disc Assessment in Optic Nerves with Peripapillary Atrophy

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is able to determine the optic disc margin automatically. The aim of this study was to investigate the accuracy of the automatic OCT optic nerve head measurements in the presence of peripapillary atrophy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional, retrospective study. Thirty-one subjects with peripapillary atrophy underwent optic nerve head scanning with OCT version 3. Nineteen of the eyes were classified clinically as having glaucoma, nine had suspected glaucoma, and three were normal. Automatic OCT results were compared with manual tracing results. RESULTS: Significant differences were found between most OCT optic nerve head automated and manual disc assessment parameters; however, good agreement was found between the two methods for all parameters (intraclass correlation, 0.71 to 0.94). Areas under receiver operator characteristics curves for clinical status were similar for all parameters with both methods. CONCLUSION: Automated OCT optic nerve head analysis may be used in the clinical setting in the presence of peripapillary atrophy; however, caution should be used when comparing individual results with population-derived optic nerve head results.