In vivo assessment of regional scleral stiffness by shear wave elastography and its association with choroid and retinal nerve fiber layer characteristics in high myopia

To evaluate the posterior scleral stiffness of different regions in high myopic eyes and to explore its associations with macular choroidal and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) thickness and vasculature. Thirty subjects with high myopic eyes and 30 subjects with low myopic eyes were included in this study. The elastic modulus of the macular and peripapillary sclera at the temporal, nasal, superior and inferior regions were determined via shear wave elastography (SWE). Optical coherence tomography and angiography (OCT/OCTA) centered on the fovea and optic disc was obtained by using a commercially available swept-source OCT/OCTA device. Built-in automated software was used to quantify macular subfovea choroidal vessel volume (SFCVV), macular subfovea choroidal thickness (SFCT) and pRNFL thickness. The SWE results demonstrated that high myopic eyes had significantly lower macular and peripapillary scleral elastic modulus than low myopic eyes (P 0.05). The linear regression analysis demonstrated a significant association between the posterior scleral elastic modulus and SFCT and inferior pRNFL thickness (P