Anterior Chamber Measurements in Healthy Children: A Cross-Sectional Study Using Optical Coherence Tomography.

Purpose: To establish anterior chamber measurements in children and investigate the influence of demographic factors on anterior chamber development. Methods: Handheld optical coherence tomography was used to scan the anterior chamber of participants' eyes, without sedation. ImageJ was used to generate quantitative anterior chamber measurements, including central corneal thickness (CCT), anterior chamber width, trabecular meshwork length (TML), Schwalbe's line-angle opening distance (SL-AOD), and trabecular iris surface area (SL-TISA). The average anterior chamber measurements per age group, with 95% prediction intervals, were estimated using fractional polynomial modeling. Mixed regression models were used to evaluate the influence of age, gender, eye, angle, and refractive error variation on anterior chamber measurements. Results: Scans from 223 healthy children (2 days to 15 years of age) and 59 adults (16 to 47 years of age) were included. The anterior chamber width, TML, Schwalbe's line-angle opening distance, and Schwalbe's line-trabecular iris surface area significantly increased, whereas CCT decreased with aging (all P < 0.001). The anterior chamber has a rapid phase of development during the first 18 months of age and reaches maturity by the age of 5 years. Girls have significantly smaller anterior chambers compared with boys (all P < 0.001). There was no difference between right and left eye development (all P > 0.05). The temporal TML development was significantly greater than the nasal TML (P < 0.05). CCT development was negatively correlated with refractive power. Conclusions: This novel, non-invasive study describes the postnatal development of anterior chamber in newborn children. Translational Relevance: Our established quantitative measurements have potential clinical use in understanding anterior segment diseases.

Reliability and Recommended Settings for Pediatric Circumpapillary Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Imaging Using Hand-Held Optical Coherence Tomography.

Purpose: To investigate feasibility and reliability of 3-dimensional full circumpapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (cpRNFL) analysis in children, with and without glaucoma, without the use of sedation and to recommend a protocol for hand-held optical coherence tomography use. Methods: A cohort of pediatric glaucoma patients and normal children were imaged with hand-held optical coherence tomography to assess the feasibility of obtaining full cpRNFL. Two consecutive scans were acquired in a smaller sample to investigate test-retest repeatability and interassessor reproducibility. The cpRNFL thickness was assessed in four quadrants, at several visual angles from the optic nerve center. Results: Scanning was attempted in both eyes of 90 children with pediatric glaucoma and 180 controls to investigate feasibility (mean age, 6.98 ± 4.42 years). Scanning was not possible in 68 eyes of glaucoma children mainly owing to nystagmus, unclear optical media, or high refractive errors. Where three-dimensional imaging was possible, success at obtaining full cpRNFL was 67% in children with glaucoma and 89% for controls. Seventeen children with pediatric glaucoma and 34 controls contributed to reliability analysis (mean age, 6.3 ± 3.63 years). For repeatability intraclass correlation coefficients across quadrants ranged from 0.63 to 0.82 at 4° and improved to 0.88 to 0.94 at 6°. Intraclass correlation coefficients for reproducibility were also highest at 6° (>0.97 across all quadrants). Conclusions: We demonstrate that acquisition and measurement of cpRNFL thickness values using 3-dimensional hand-held optical coherence tomography volumes in awake children is both feasible and reliable and is optimal at 6° from optic nerve center. Translational Relevance: Our recommended protocol provides guidance on how pediatric optic nerve pathologies are managed by clinicians.