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Retinal, choroidal and optic disc analysis in patients with Graves’ disease with or without orbitopathy

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Abstract

Purpose

To compare optic disc, retinal and choroidal measurements in patients with Graves’ disease with or without orbitopathy, and healthy controls.

Methods

Optical coherence tomography and Heidelberg retinal tomography were performed in 40 patients with Graves’ orbitopathy (GO), 40 subjects with Graves’s disease (GD) with no sign of orbitopathy and 40 healthy controls. Degree of exophthalmos, ocular alignment, clinical activity score (CAS), choroidal thickness, retinal thickness, ganglion cell layer (GCL) thickness, disc area, cup area, rim area, cup/disc area ratio, linear cup/disc ratio and mean peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer thickness were analysed.

Results

GO patients and healthy controls significantly differ regarding mean central retinal thickness (275 ± 19 µm and 285 ± 20 µm, P = 0.017); mean central GCL thickness (14.87 ± 3.0 µm and 17.92 ± 5.02 µm, P = 0.001); mean disc area (2.00 ± 0.44 mm2 and 1.72 ± 0.37 mm2, P = 0.003); mean cup area (0.53 ± 0.52 mm2 and 0.31 ± 0.20 mm2, P = 0.003); cup/disc area ratio (0.22 ± 0.10 and 0.17 ± 0.08, P = 0.010); and linear cup/disc ratio (0.47 ± 0.15 and 0.40 ± 0.13, respectively, P = 0.011). No difference was found between patients without orbitopathy and healthy controls. No significant difference was found regarding the choroidal thickness between the three groups. There was no statistically significant relationship between retinal thickness, ganglion cell layer thickness, mean disc area, mean cup area, cup/disc area ratio, linear cup/disc ratio, CAS, exophthalmometric value and ocular alignment.

Conclusion

GO patients showed significant changes in foveal and GCL thickness, and optic nerve head morphology suggesting a possible influence of the orbital inflammatory process.

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Author notes

  1. Giamberto Casini and Pasquale Loiudice equally contributed to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ophthalmology Unit, Department of Surgical, Medical, Molecular and Critical Area Pathology, University of Pisa, Via Paradisa 2, 56124, Pisa, Italy

    Giamberto Casini, Serena Licari, Giuseppe Covello, Angela Tindara Sframeli, Michele Figus & Pasquale Loiudice

  2. Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Endocrinology Unit I, University of Pisa and University Hospital of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Michele Marinò, Barbara Mazzi, Ilaria Ionni & Roberto Rocchi

  3. Azienda Socio-Sanitaria Territoriale Di Mantova, Mantova, Italy

    Marisa Rubino

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  1. Giamberto Casini
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee (Comitato Etico Area Vasta Nord Ovest, Register Number: 18781) and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Casini, G., Marinò, M., Rubino, M. et al. Retinal, choroidal and optic disc analysis in patients with Graves’ disease with or without orbitopathy. Int Ophthalmol 40, 2129–2137 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-020-01392-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-020-01392-7

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