Abstract
Purpose: :
To evaluate correlations of macular ganglion cell complex (mGCC) thickness, parapapillary retinal nerve layer (pRNFL) thickness and optic disc topography with visual field defects in glaucoma patients.
Methods: :
Patients: Sixty five eyes of 65 patients with open-angle glaucoma, whose mean deviation (MD) of the Humphrey Field Analyzer (HFA) 24-2 ranged from -20.6 to -0.2 (mean -8.0) dB.Observation Procedures: Imaging of mGCC, pRNFL and optic disc topography using a spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT, RTVue-100, Optovue Inc. Fremont, CA).
Results: :
Significant correlations were found between mGCC thickness and pRNFL thickness (Pearson's correlation coefficient [R] = 0.77, P<0.001), between mGCC thickness and rim area (R=0.64, P<0.001), and between pRNFL thickness and rim area (R=0.71, P<0.001). MD was significantly correlated with mGCC thickness and pRNFL thickness with similar strength (R=0.56, P<0.001, each). Among optic disc parameters, rim area was most strongly correlated with MD (R=0.46, P<0.001), but the correlation was relatively weaker compared to mGCC and pRNFL. Superior average of mGCC thickness was most strongly correlated with the inferior average of sensitivity (R=0.71, P<0.001).
Main Outcome Measures: :
Structural parameters including mGCC thickness, pRNFL thickness, and parameters of optic disc topography, and visual field parameters including MD and global and sectorized averages of sensitivity threshold of HFA.Statistical analysis: Correlations between VFD and the structural parameters including mGCC thickness, pRNFL thickness, and optic disc topography were assessed with Pearson’s correlation coefficient and analysis of covariance to adjust for disc area.
Conclusions: :
In open-angle glaucoma eyes, mGCC thickness was highly correlated with pRNFL thickness and gave significant correlation with visual field defects which was comparable to pRNFL thickness and better than optic disc parameters, suggesting that mGCC measurement might be a good alternative to pRNFL measurement in the observation of glaucoma progression.
Keywords: nerve fiber layer • ganglion cells • imaging/image analysis: clinical