Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness Measurement Comparability between Time Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and Spectral Domain OCT

PURPOSE. Time domain optical coherence tomography (TD-OCT) has been used commonly in clinical practice, producing a large inventory of circular scan data for retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) assessment. Spectral domain (SD)-OCT produces three-dimensional (3-D) data volumes. The purpose of this study was to create a robust technique that makes TD-OCT circular scan RNFL thickness measurements comparable with those from 3-D SD-OCT volumes. METHODS. Eleven eyes of 11 healthy subjects and 7 eyes of 7 subjects with glaucoma were enrolled. Each eye was scanned with one centered and eight displaced TD-OCT scanning circles. One 3-D SD-OCT cube scan was obtained at the same visit. The matching location of the TD-OCT scanning circle was automatically detected within the corresponding 3-D SD-OCT scan. Algorithm performance was assessed by estimating the difference between the detected scanning circle location on 3-D SD-OCT volume and the TD-OCT circle location. Global and sectoral RNFL thickness measurement errors between the two devices were also compared. RESULTS. The difference (95% confidence interval) in scanning circle center locations between TD- and SD-OCT was 2.3 (1.5-3.2) pixels (69.0 [45.0-96.0] mu m on the retina) for healthy eyes and 3.1 (2.0-4.1) pixels (93.0 [60.0-123.0] mu m on the retina) for glaucomatous eyes. The absolute RNFL thickness measurement difference was significantly smaller with the matched scanning circle. CONCLUSIONS. Scan location matching may bridge the gap in RNFL thickness measurements between TD-OCT circular scan data and 3-D SD-OCT scan data, providing follow-up comparability across the two generations of OCTs. (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2010; 51: 896-902) DOI:10.1167/iovs.09-4110