AIM:To analyze the differences of retinal thickness, retinal volume and choroidal thickness in the macular area in healthy people and patients with liver cirrhosis, and to explore the morphologic changes of retina and choroid in liver cirrhosis.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study. From January 2015 to March 2018, 168 eyes of 84 patients with liver cirrhosis and 100 eyes of 50 healthy people were included. Healthy people were the normal control group. The patients were divided into two groups, including compensated cirrhosis group(68 eyes of 34 patients)and decompensated cirrhosis group(100 eyes of 50 patients). All eyes underwent OCT examination to measure the retinal thickness and retinal volume in the macular area. EDI-OCT was used for choroidal thickness scanning, and the vertical distance between the strong reflection of Bruch film and the strong reflection of the choroidal sclera interface was defined as the choroidal thickness. The retinal thickness, retinal volume and choroidal thickness in the macular area in the three groups were compared and analyzed.

RESULTS: The differences in retinal thickness and retinal volume between three groups were not significant(P>0.05). The subfoveal choridal thickness(SFCT)of three groups were 338.50±70.44, 357.00±89.16, 319.53±74.37μm(P>0.05). There was a statistically significant difference in nasal choroid thickness between the three groups(P<0.05). The choridal thickness in nasal area to fovea in the patients with decompensated cirrhosis was increased than that in healthy people(P<0.05).

CONCLUSION: The choridal thickness in nasal area to fovea in the patients with decompensated cirrhosis is thicker than that in healthy people. There are no significant differences in retinal thickness or retinal volume in macular area between healthy people and patients with liver cirrhosis.