Differentiation of degenerative retinoschisis from retinal detachment using optical coherence tomography

Objective: To assess the potential of optical coherence tomography (OCT) to differentiate retinoschisis from retinal detachment, Optical coherence tomography is a noninvasive, noncontact imaging method that produces high-resolution, cross-sectional images of ocular tissue. Design: Retrospective case series. Participants: Thirteen eyes of 12 patients with the differential diagnosis of retinoschisis versus retinal detachment. Methods: Differentiation between retinoschisis and retinal detachment was established from both ophthalmoscopic and OCT examinations. Main Outcome Measure: Ability of OCT to differentiate retinoschisis from retinal detachment was measured, Results: Thirteen eyes of 12 patients with retinal elevation were examined with OCT. The cross-sectional view produced by OCT was effective in distinguishing retinoschisis from retinal detachment. Optical coherence tomography images of retinoschisis show a splitting of the neurosensory retina. The OCT images of retinal detachment show separation of full-thickness neurosensory retina from the retinal pigment epithelium band. The OCT images correlated with the clinical impression in all 13 cases. Conclusions: Based on this series of cases, OCT is a potentially useful new test that may be used to distinguish retinoschisis from rhegmatogenous retinal detachment.