Assessment and reproducibility of anterior chamber depth measurement with anterior segment optical coherence tomography compared with immersion ultrasonography

PURPOSE: To measure anterior chamber depth (ACD) with an anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS‐OCT) and a standard ultrasonic (US) axial scan (A‐scan) device using an immersion technique and to assess repeatability, reproducibility, and correlations of the measurements. SETTING: Department of Ophthalmology, Medical Health and Science Center, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary. METHODS: Sixty healthy eyes of 41 patients were enrolled in a study. The central ACD was measured 5 times with AS‐OCT (Visante, Carl Zeiss Meditec) using its chamber tool and 5 times with a US A‐scan device (UltraScan Imaging System, Alcon Laboratories) using an immersion method. The measurements were performed consecutively by 2 independent observers. RESULTS: The mean ACD measured with AS‐OCT was 3.12 mm ± 0.33 (SD) by observer 1 and 3.11 ± 0.33 mm by observer 2 (P = .78). The repeatability was 0.8% ± 0.4% and 1.9% ± 1.4%, respectively. The reproducibility was 0.23%. The reliability coefficient with AS‐OCT was 99.6%. The mean ACD measured with immersion US A‐scan was 2.98 ± 0.33 mm by observer 1 and 2.95 ± 0.34 mm by observer 2 (P = .68). The repeatability was 6.4% ± 3.8% by observer 1 and 8.5% ± 4.9% by observer 2. The reproducibility was 0.88%. The reliability coefficient was 87.1% for US A‐scan measurements. The difference between ACD values with AS‐OCT and values with US A‐scan was statistically significant (P = .02). The correlation (r) between AS‐OCT and US A‐scan was 0.732 (P<.0001) by observer 1 and 0.802 (P<.0001) by observer 2. CONCLUSIONS: Anterior chamber measurements were significantly deeper with AS‐OCT than with US immersion A‐scan. Repeatability of ACD measurements was better with AS‐OCT than with immersion US, and reproducibility was equal with the 2 methods.