Original articleStructural Grading of Foveal Hypoplasia Using Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography: A Predictor of Visual Acuity?
Section snippets
Patients
The study population consisted of 69 patients with foveal hypoplasia (defined as incursion or continuation of inner retinal layers) and 65 controls with a mean age of 28.5 years (standard deviation, 15.7 years; range, 5–64 years) and 33.5 years (standard deviation, 14.3 years; range, 8–62 years), respectively. The patient cohort consisted of 58 white persons (84%) and 11 Asians (16%); similarly, the control cohort consisted of 48 white persons (74%) and 17 Asians (26%). In the patient group,
Gross Morphologic Features Associated with Foveal Hypoplasia
Examples of the gross features of foveal hypoplasia detectable on ultra high-resolution spectral-domain OCT are shown in Figure 2. The hallmark of foveal hypoplasia detectable on OCT is the incursion of the inner retinal layers posterior to the foveola. In addition to this, other features seen on OCT included: shallower or absent foveal pit, diminished ONL widening, decreased OS lengthening, and overall thickening of the retina. However, there is considerable phenotypic variability associated
Discussion
This study proposed a structural grading system for foveal hypoplasia based on loss of unique elements that form the normal fovea that likely have been arrested during early development. The proposed grading system has 3 advantages: (1) it gives insight into the degree of development of the fovea, (2) it provides a prognostic indicator from a morphologic OCT scan, and (3) it can be applied to most disorders associated with foveal hypoplasia. The study also showed that achromatopsia can be
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Manuscript no. 2010-1032.
Financial Disclosure(s): The author(s) have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.