Sectoral thinning of the retina after branch retinal artery occlusion.

Objective: We studied the temporal aspects of retinal thickness in eyes with branch retinal artery occlusion (BRAO) to demonstrate the retinal thinning process subsequent to the acute stage of the disease.

Methods: We studied the retinal thickness map obtained with optical coherence tomography (OCT) in nine eyes of nine patients with BRAO. Central foveal thickness and average retinal thickness in the superior or inferior sectors of the inner macula (IM) and outer macula (OM) were measured several times after the onset of BRAO.

Results: All follow-up data combined from the eyes with the occluded branch artery on the same vertical side showed a common pattern of decrease in the retinal thickness in the affected superior or inferior sectors of the IM and OM, which was described by an exponential decay curve, whereas few changes were seen in central foveal thickness. The fitting of the reducing retinal thickness curves to an exponential decay curve led to the final estimated thickness in the affected sectors of 60% that of the control.

Conclusions: The initially thickened retina in the vertical sectors of the macula in eyes with BRAO decreases exponentially to a final thickness of 60% of that the normal retina.