Abstract
Purpose:
To examine the relationship between peripapillary choroidal thickness, nerve fiber layer thickness and visual field loss in asymmetric Primary Open Angle Glaucoma patients.
Methods:
124 eyes of 62 Primary Open Angle Glaucoma (POAG) patients seen at New England Eye Center between September 2009 and August 2011 were analyzed. Nerve fiber layer thickness measurements were obtained via Cirrus OCT (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc). Humphrey visual fields (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc) were performed and Mean Deviation data was used for analysis. Peripapillary choroidal thickness measurements were obtained via Cirrus OCT high definition raster scanning in four quadrants (superior, inferior, temporal and nasal) at distances 500µm, 1000µm and 1500µm from the optic nerve. A single sub-foveal.measurement was also obtained. Interocular differences (OD-OS) in choroidal thickness were then compared to interocular differences in nerve fiber layer thickness and visual field mean deviation to see whether these variables were correlated.
Results:
There was no statistically significant correlation (Pearson’s correlation coefficient, Sig 2-tailed value) found in regards to interocular differences in peripapillary choroidal thickness and interocular differences in nerve fiber layer thickness or mean deviation in visual field in any of the four quadrants or in the subfoveal region (sig two-tailed <0.05) in this group of POAG patients.
Conclusions:
Based on the results of this study, changes in peripapillary choroidal thickness do not seem to correlate with nerve fiber layer thickness or with visual field damage in patients with primary open angle glaucoma.
Keywords: 452 choroid •
568 intraocular pressure •
610 nerve fiber layer