Does Subretinal Fluid Optical Density Ratio Differ Among the Eyes with Acute Central Serous Chorioretinopathy,Vogt Koyanagi Harada Disease and Choroidal Hemangioma: A Cross-sectional Study.

PURPOSE: To investigate the diagnostic value of optical density ratio (ODR) in various diseases with subretinal fluid (SRF) due to different pathophysiologies.

METHODS: Patients with acute central serous chorioretinopathy; CSCR (n=49), Vogt Koyanagi Harada disease; VKH (n=34), and choroidal hemangioma (n=17) characterized with SRF were included. Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) images were analyzed using ImageJ by three independent readers. The ODRs were calculated using "region of interest (ROI)" and "entire region (TOTAL)" selection methods from the SRF to the vitreous, retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) reflectivity ratios. A correlation analysis between age, central macular thickness (CMT), SRF height, SRF width, and ODRs were obtained.

RESULTS: Optical density (OD) measurement was highly reproducible (intraclass correlation coefficient> 0.9). Optical density of the SRF, vitreous, RNFL, and signal strength were comparable (p=0.360, p=0.247, p=0.105, and 0.628, respectively). There was no difference in SRF OD measurements between the two methods (p=0.401), while there was a significant difference in vitreous OD measurements (p=0.016). ANOVA test of ODR(ROI) , ODR(TOTAL), ODR-RPE (ROI) and ODR-RNFL (ROI) revealed no significant difference among acute CSCR, VKH disease and choroidal hemangioma groups (p>0.05 for all). Correlation analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between SRF height (p < 0.05) and CMT (p < 0.01) with SRF ODR(ROI) .

CONCLUSION: ODR measurement appears to be a highly repeatable SD-OCT parameter for diseases characterized with SRF collection. Despite variations in their pathophysiology, the ODR was not statistically different in acute CSCR, VKH disease, and choroidal hemangioma.