Purpose: To investigate the role of optical coherence tomography (OCT) in the evaluation of fundus tumors and simulating lesions in children.
Patients and methods: We report the results of a retrospective single-center case series of 44 eyes of 44 children younger than age 18 with fundus lesions who were evaluated with OCT. In comparison, 12 eyes of 12 children with a normal macula were evaluated with OCT. Main outcome measures were cooperation of children while undergoing OCT and correlation of OCT findings with clinical and ultrasonographic findings
Results: The OCT was performed without difficulty in all 56 children. Mean patient age was 12 years (median, 12 years; range, 4 to 17 years). The mean horizontal foveal thickness in the 12 normal eyes was 137 microm (median, 132 microm; range, 109 to 185 microm). Clinical diagnoses included retinoblastoma in 10 (23%) eyes, Coats' disease in 4 (9%) eyes, retinal capillary hemangioma in 3 (7%) eyes, astrocytic hamartoma of the retina in 3 (7%) eyes, toxocara granuloma in 2 (5%) eyes, and others. OCT was more sensitive than clinical examination in detection of macular pathology including shallow posterior vitreous detachment, surface wrinkling maculopathy, cystoid and noncystoid macular edema, subfoveal fluid, and retinal thinning. In comparison to ultrasonography, OCT was more sensitive in detection of surface wrinkling maculopathy, macular edema, and subfoveal fluid. Ultrasonography was more sensitive in detection of posterior vitreous detachment.
Conclusions: OCT is a useful and well-tolerated diagnostic modality for macular evaluation in children. It is more sensitive than clinical examination and ultrasonography in the detection of surface wrinkling maculopathy, macular edema, and subfoveal fluid.