Abstract
Purpose :
Polarization-sensitive OCT (PS-OCT) can detect and evaluate scar fibrosis of the filtering blebs after glaucoma surgery. Previously, we reported about the fibrosis score as a new diagnosis score to evaluate the bleb structures. This study aims to assess longitudinal changes in the fibrosis score of the blebs after surgery using PS-OCT.
Methods :
Twenty-three blebs of 21 patients who had undergone glaucoma filtration surgery were consecutively examined for 6 months. Birefringence tomography of blebs was obtained by PS-OCT, and the fibrosis score was computed for each patient. The fibrosis score was defined as the area occupation ratio of high birefringence area within the conjunctiva. All subjects were classified as good or poor IOP-control group by intraocular pressure (IOP) and medications. Time-course changes in the fibrosis score were evaluated in each group.
Results :
There were 17 blebs in the good IOP-control group and 6 blebs in the poor IOP-control group. In the good IOP-control group, there was no increase of high-birefringent tissue (Figure 1) and the average fibrosis score at 1, 2 weeks, 1, 2, 3, and 6 months was 19, 19, 20, 21, 19, and 19 %, respectively. In the poor IOP-control group, partial increase of thin hire-birefringent tissue was shown around the internal fluid pool (Figure 2). Consequently, the average fibrosis score increases by time as it was 18, 21, 25, 34, 35, and 35 % at 1, 2weeks and 1, 2, 3, and 6 months, respectively.
Conclusions :
In consecutive measurements, the functional blebs in the good IOP-control group showed a low fibrosis score. On the other hand, the poorly functioning blebs in the poor IOP-control group showed a tendency to increase of the score. PS-OCT may be useful for the evaluation of bleb function.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.