Evaluation of lamina cribrosa thickness and depth in ocular hypertension

Purpose: To investigate the differences in thickness and depth of the lamina cribrosa (LC) between ocular hypertension (OH) patients and normal control subjects, using enhanced depth imaging (EDI) spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Methods: EDI-OCT data were obtained from the subjects in a cross-sectional analysis of data from a retrospective study. After IOP correction according to central corneal thickness (CCT), we divided the OH patients into two groups based on the corrected IOP (cIOP) — OH with lower IOP (OH-L; cIOP < 23 mmHg) and OH with higher IOP (OH-H; cIOP ≥ 23 mmHg). Comparisons of LC thickness and depth among three groups were performed. Results: Seventy-four OH patients and 45 normal control subjects were included in the analysis. Among the 74 OH patients, 41 were included in the OH-L group and 33 were included in the OH-H group. LC thickness was thicker in the OH-H group compared to normal controls both in superior (P = 0.02) and inferior (P = 0.01) portions. However, no difference was found in LC depth among the three groups in any portion (P = 0.36; P = 0.44; P = 0.31, respectively). Conclusion: OH patients may have a thicker LC than normal control subjects, especially in OH with definite high IOP.