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Comparing the morphology of optic nerve head and lamina cribrosa in full-term and preterm school-aged children

Eye (2024)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objectives

To evaluate the morphology of lamina cribrosa (LC) in preterm school-aged children.

Methods

A study of 120 eyes from 120 patients, including 42 full-term children (control group), 41 preterm children without retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), 16 children with ROP treated with intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB), and 21 children with ROP treated with laser. Five parameters of LC were measured by optical coherence tomography, including Bruch’s membrane opening (BMO) diameter, minimum rim width (MRW), LC depth, prelaminar tissue (PLT) thickness, and LC curvature index (LCCI).

Results

The PLT thickness increased with age in full-term and preterm children (β = 30.1, P = 0.003 and β = 19.6, P < 0.001, respectively). LC depth and LCCI showed no differences between full-term and preterm children. Worse refractive errors in preterm children were associated with greater MRW and PLT thickness (β = −17.1, P = 0.001 and β = −5.7, P = 0.03, respectively). However, this relationship was not found in full-term children. Laser-treated children had greater MRW, PLT, temporal peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer, and foveal thickness than full-term or other preterm children (all P < 0.05).

Conclusions

Prematurity and ROP treatment may have an impact on the structural development of the LC. Refractive status plays a vital role in the LC structure of preterm children. This highlights the refractive errors of preterm children at school age that merit greater attention.

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Fig. 1: Measurements of the optic nerve head and lamina cribrosa.

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Data availability

Additional data are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by Chang Gung Memorial Hospital Research Grants (CGRPG3M0031 and CMRPG3L0151–3) and the Ministry of Science and Technology Research Grant (MOST 109-2314-B-182A-019-MY3). The sponsors had no role in the design or conduct of this research. Financial Disclosures: All authors have no financial disclosures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, Taiwan

    Yung-Sung Lee, Eugene Yu-Chuan Kang, Henry Shen-Lih Chen & Wei-Chi Wu

  2. Department of Ophthalmology, New Taipei Municipal Tucheng Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan

    Yung-Sung Lee & Po‑Han Yeh

  3. College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan

    Eugene Yu-Chuan Kang, Henry Shen-Lih Chen & Wei-Chi Wu

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Contributions

YSL and WCW conceived and designed the study protocol. EYK, HSC, PHY collected data and performed data analysis. YSL and WCW interpreted results and wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Wei-Chi Wu.

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Lee, YS., Kang, E.YC., Chen, H.SL. et al. Comparing the morphology of optic nerve head and lamina cribrosa in full-term and preterm school-aged children. Eye (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41433-024-03053-w

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