Evaluation of anterior chamber parameters with spectral-domain optical coherence tomography

Purpose

To evaluate several anterior chamber parameters in healthy young adults using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography and to describe the repeatability and reproducibility of this method.

Study design

Prospective clinical study.

Methods

Fifty-two eyes of 52 healthy volunteers were enrolled. Manual measurements of the anterior chamber angle (ACA₅₀₀ and ACA₇₅₀), angle opening distance (AOD₅₀₀ and AOD₇₅₀), angle-to-angle distance (ATA), anterior chamber width (ACW), and lens vault (LV) were obtained.

Results

The mean nasal ACA₅₀₀ was 44.87 ± 12.92°; ACA₇₅₀, 43.94 ± 10.41°; AOD₅₀₀, 672.54 ± 270.19 µm; AOD_750, 881.87 ± 290.55 µm. The mean temporal ACA₅₀₀ was 41.46 ± 11.20°; ACA₇₅₀, 41.27 ± 11.31°; AOD₅₀₀, 603.15 ± 232.28 µm; AOD_750, 823.46 ± 308.76 µm. The differences between the corresponding nasal and temporal parameters were statistically significant. The ACW was 11.97 ± 0.42 mm, the ATA was 12.10 ± 0.43 mm, and the LV was 3.71 ± 232.93 µm. The ACA was highly associated with the LV. The intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from 0.984 to 0.999 for the intraobserver repeatability and from 0.966 to 0.998 for the interobserver reproducibility.

Conclusions

This study assessed anterior chamber parameters in healthy young adults using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography. This technique reveals the spatial relationships of the ocular structures, provides high-resolution images, and results in high degrees of intraobserver and interobserver repeatabilities.