Background and objective: To examine the between-grader repeatability of height, depth, and cross-sectional area measurements of the lower tear meniscus, using a Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) system.
Patients and methods: A total of 16 patients with dry eye had the lower tear meniscus of the right eye imaged twice in rapid succession. The tear meniscus height, depth, and cross-sectional area were measured by two masked graders using computer calipers. The between-grader variability, calculated using the pooled coefficient of variation (CV%), assessed the repeatability of the measurements.
Results: The between-grader CV% was 12.1%, 15.7%, and 19.5% for height, depth, and area, respectively. The between-image variability was 17.1%, 13.4%, and 35.4% for height, depth, and area, respectively. The overall intraclass correlation was 99%. There was no systematic bias between the two graders.
Conclusion: Fourier-domain OCT demonstrates good between-grader and between-image repeatability in measuring the height, depth, and cross-sectional area of the tear meniscus in patients with dry eye. Measurement variability was primarily due to the difference between images rather than graders.
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