Reproducibility of choroidal thickness measurements in hemodialysis patients: A spectral domain optical coherence tomography study

Abstract

Aside from general body fluid fluctuation, hemodialysis (HD) may cause changes in ocular fluid balance, resulting in changes in subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT) and other ocular parameters. As a result, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of hemodialysis on the reproducibility of SFCT measured by spectral domain-optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Twenty-six HD (26 eyes) patients had their pre- and post-HD SFCT measured, and the results were compared for reproducibility. Following a thorough ophthalmic examination, SD-OCT was performed three times in a row during a single session. The same physician measured SFCT after automatically identifying choroid with a software caliper. Reproducibility parameters, including intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs), coefficients of variation (COV), and test-retest variability (TRTV) were then calculated. Males made up 53.85% of the 26 HD patients. There was a significant IOP difference between pre-HD (16.42±3.14 mmHg) and post-HD (14.21±2.78 mmHg) (P<0.001). SFCT decreased significantly from pre-HD 243.50±10.23 μm to post-HD 234.29±9.41 μm (P<0.001). ICC value increased significantly after HD, rising from 0.948 to 0.989 (P<0.001, for all). Pre- and post-HD COV values were 1.6% and 0.65%, respectively. Also, pre- and post-HD TRTV values were 7.864±1.996 μm and 3.074±1.536 μm, respectively. In this study, the reproducibility of SFCT as measured by OCT was lower during pre-HD compared to post-HD. Post-HD SD-OCT assessment appears to improve the reliability of clinical outcomes in the diagnosis and monitoring of HD patients.