Purpose: To investigate the anatomic characteristics of peripapillary intrachoroidal cavitation using optical coherence tomography methodologies that are capable of deeper tissue penetration and consider pathophysiologic mechanisms of disease on the basis of the derived imaging information.
Methods: Consecutive eyes with peripapillary intrachoroidal cavitation were imaged with swept source optical coherence tomography with a 1-mm light source and in one eye with enhanced depth imaging spectral domain optical coherence tomography and 3-dimensional rendering. The anatomic layers were identified, and the induced abnormalities were evaluated.
Results: There were 16 eyes of 13 patients who had a mean age of 50.3 years and a mean spherical refraction of -12.5 diopters in the affected eyes. The lesion appeared as a yellowish-orange lobular region, usually inferior to the optic nerve, which was invariably tilted. The sclera was bowed posteriorly under the region of the intrachoroidal cavitation, while the overlying retina-retinal pigment epithelium-Bruch membrane complex showed little, if any deformation. Full-thickness defects in the retina at the inferior border of the conus were seen in four eyes and were associated with prominent cavitation within the choroid with marked posterior bowing of the sclera, but negligible deformation of the overlying retina inferior to the nerve.
Conclusion: Newer imaging modalities provided information about deeper structures in the eye not available in older studies that were performed with time-domain optical coherence tomography. This study demonstrated posterior deformation of the sclera in regions previously thinned by the ocular expansion that occurs in high myopia and imaged the resultant effects on the involved choroid.