Abstract
Purpose :
To our knowledge, it is unknown whether minimum distance band (MDB) neuroretinal rim thickness asymmetry measurements are useful for diagnosing glaucoma. This study’s aim is to determine if MDB neuroretinal rim inter-eye asymmetry is useful in differentiating normal from open angle glaucoma (OAG) eyes
Methods :
Normal and OAG patients underwent spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) imaging (Spectralis, Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany) of both eyes. A custom-designed automated MDB segmentation algorithm calculated mean MDB neuroretinal rim thickness globally, for 4 quadrants, and for 4 sectors. Inter-eye MDB thickness asymmetry values were the absolute difference in values between the right and left eyes
Results :
There were 28 normal and 33 OAG subjects. Increasing MDB thickness asymmetry was not associated with increasing age or increasing refractive error asymmetry. OAG patients had thinner mean MDB neuroretinal rim thickness values compared to normal patients (209.0 μm versus 306.0 μm, P < 0.001). OAG subjects had greater inter-eye MDB thickness asymmetry compared to normal subjects for the global region (51.9 μm versus 17.6 μm, P < 0.001) as well as for all quadrants and all sectors. For detecting OAG, an MDB thickness asymmetry value greater than 28.3 μm in the inferior quadrant yielded the greatest sum of sensitivity (87.9%) and specificity (75.0%). Globally, MDB thickness asymmetry greater than 30.7 μm yielded the greatest sum of sensitivity (66.7%) and specificity (89.3%)
Conclusions :
This study indicates that inter-eye neuroretinal rim MDB asymmetry measurements using high-density SD-OCT volume scans may be an objective and quantitative tool for the evaluation of open angle glaucoma patients
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.