Abstract
Purpose:
To investigate the rate of visual field progression in patients with normal tension glaucoma (NTG) and analysis the clinical characteristics between progressing and non-progressing group.
Methods:
Records with five or more visual field tests of 265 eyes (265 patients) which had been diagnosed with NTG at Ewha Womans University, Mokdong hospital was reviewed. Patients were classified into progressing and non-progressing groups by visual field trend analysis. Kaplan - Meier survival curves was used to estimate five year progression rate.
Results:
Among 256 eyes with medically treated NTG, 59 eyes (22.3%) were classified into the progressing group. The mean baseline IOP was higher in the progressing group (p=0.027) and mean baseline MD were different between progressing and non-progressing group (-3.91±2.95dB vs -2.67±2.81dB, p=0.042). The 5 years progressing rate of medically treated NTG was 16% and 5 years progressing rate of under age 40 was 12% and over age 40 was 16%. And 5 years progressing rate of mono-therapy group was 15% and double-therapy group was 21%.
Conclusions:
After 5 years, 16% of medically treated NTG showed a confirmed localized VF progression. Special attention and proper treatment should be given to patients with high baseline IOP or worse baseline MD in visual field test.