2Uz. Dr., Ahi Evran Üniversitesi Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi, Gastroenteroloji Kliniği, Kırşehir, Türkiye Aim: Our aim was to compare the choroidal thickness in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and age- and gender- matched healthy volunteers.
Materials and Methods: A total of 69 chronic HBV infection cases and 64 age- and gender-matched controls were evaluated. The chronic HBV infection cases were divided into two subgroups as inactive carriers (38 cases) and those being treated (31 cases). The right eye was evaluated in all subjects. The sections were measured horizontally across the fovea at 500-?m intervals using enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography. The measurements were made at a total of 7 measurement points up to 1500 ?m nasal and temporal to the fovea.
Results: There was no signifi cant difference between the patient and control groups in terms of age, gender, body mass index, intraocular pressure and spherical equivalent (p>0.05). Choroidal thicknesses in chronic HBV patients were thicker than in the controls but this difference was not statistically signifi cant (p>0.05). There was no signifi cant correlation between disease duration and choroidal thickness. There was also no signifi cant difference between the subgroups for choroidal thickness (p>0.05).
Conclusions: We found that the choroidal thicknesses were higher in chronic HBV patients than in healthy control subjects at all measurement points but these differences were not statistically signifi cant. The effect of chronic HBV infection on choroidal vascular structures is not at a signifi cant level that can be determined with EDI-OCT.
Keywords : Choroidal thickness, chronic hepatitis B virus infection, enhanced depth imaging, optical coherence tomography