Abstract
Purpose :
We developed Doppler optical coherence tomography flowmeter (DOCT flowmeter: IOVS 2016, IOVS 2017, PLoS ONE 2018), which enables easy, accurate and non-invasive retinal blood flow (RBF) measurement within three seconds. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the clinical usefulness of the DOCT flowmeter in the assessment of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) by investigating the associations between RBF and visual field (VF) mean deviation (MD) as the gold standard for assessing glaucoma.
Methods :
Forty-four eyes of 44 POAG patientsand 24 eyes of 24 age-matched healthy subjects (control) were recruited in this study. Total temporal artery RBF (TARBF), total temporal vein RBF (TVRBF), circumpapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (cpRNFL) and macular ganglion cell complex (mGCC) thickness were measured using DOCT-flowmeter and spectral domain OCT (3D OCT-1 Maestro, Topcon, Japan). Unpaired t tests were used to evaluate differences in parameters between POAG and healthy eyes. Multivariate regression analysis was performed to analyze the associations between RBF and the conventional indices (VF sensitivity, cpRNFL and mGCC).
Results :
TARBF and TVRBF in POAG eyes (9.37 µL/min and 12.34 µL/min, respectively) were lower than those in the healthy eyes (16.66 µL/min and 16.91 µL/min, respectively, p < 0.001). The multiple correlation coefficients (R) between MD and the RBF indices (vs TARBF: R = 0.597, p < 0.001; vs TVRBF: R = 0.435, p = 0.003) were similar to those between MD and OCT measurements (vs cpRNFL: 0.635, p < 0.001; vs mGCC: 0.503, p < 0.001) in the POAG eyes.
Conclusions :
RBF attenuation in POAG eyes was associated with the extent of VF damage in POAG eyes. DOCT-flowmeter is a promising modality to identify glaucomatous damages.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.