Abstract
Purpose:
To examine the relationship between changes in retinal capillary blood flow and changes in macular thickness in open angle glaucoma (OAG) patients with and without diabetes (DM)
Methods:
76 patients with OAG (14 with DM, 62 without DM) were assessed for change in retinal capillary blood flow as measured by Heidelberg retinal flowmetry (HRF) and macular thickness as measured by optical coherence tomography (OCT). Pearson correlations were used to test for associations between measurements, with p<0.05 considered statistically significant.
Results:
In OAG patients with DM, change in the number of superior zero blood flow pixels strongly correlated with change in macular thickness in all four quadrants-superior, inferior, nasal, and temporal (p<0.0021) and with macular volume (p<0.0000). These correlations were not significant in patients without DM, resulting in a significant difference between groups (p<0.0311). Change in the number of inferior zero blood flow pixels was also strongly correlated to change in macular thickness in all quadrants (p<0.0087) and macular volume (p<0.0000) in patients with DM and not in patients without DM, leading to a significant difference between groups (p<0.0149). Additionally, changes in the number of inferior 10th and 25th percentile blood flow pixels were moderately correlated with macular thickness in all quadrants (p<0.0496) and macular volume (p=0.0171) in patients with DM, but not in those without DM, leading to a significant difference between the two groups (p<0.0375).
Conclusions:
In OAG patients with diabetes, change in retinal blood flow was significantly correlated with changes in macular thickness after 4 years. These relationships were not found in OAG patients without DM. This data suggests that OAG patients with diabetes may have a stronger vascular contribution to their glaucomatous structural damage.
Keywords: 436 blood supply •
498 diabetes •
585 macula/fovea