Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: To evaluate the correlation between macular thickness and retinal nerve fiber layer (RFNL) thickness in normal and glaucomatous eyes. Methods: Complete examination, automated achromatic perimetry (AAP) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) of the peripapillary RFNL and macula were performed. Exclusion criteria were visual acuity < 20/40, diseases other than glaucoma and unreliable AAP. Macular thickness measurements were generated using 6 radial OCT scans (5.9 mm) centered on the fovea, and mean and quadrantic macular thickness values were calculated. Results: 59 eyes of 59 patients (29 normal, 30 glaucomatous) were enrolled (mean age 56.7 ± 20.3 years, range 20-91 years). All eyes with glaucoma had associated visual field loss (average MD -8.4 ± 5.8 dB). Mean macular thickness was significantly associated with visual field MD (R2 = 0.47, P<0.0001) and PSD (R2 = 0.32, P<0.0001), and mean RFNL thickness (R2 = 0.38, P<0.0001). In glaucomatous eyes with visual field loss localized to one hemifield (N = 11), mean macular thickness in the quadrant associated with the field defect (276.9 ± 28.5 µ) was significantly less (P = 0.005) than the unaffected quadrant (286.2 ± 27.0 µ). Mean RFNL thickness in the affected quadrant (89.0 ± 53.4 µ) was significantly thinner (P = 0.009) than the unaffected quadrant (121.0 ± 39.5 µ). Conclusion: Macular thickness changes are well correlated with changes in visual function and RFNL structure in glaucoma, and may represent a surrogate indicator of retinal ganglion cell loss.
Keywords: 430 imaging/image analysis: clinical