Doppler OCT assessed retinal venous blood flow is highly correlated with optic nerve and macular structure in patients with primary open angle glaucoma

Abstract

Purpose : To investigate the relationship between Doppler optical coherence tomography (DOCT) retinal blood flow (RBF), optic nerve head (ONH) and macular structure, and visual field (VF) parameters in patients with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG).

Methods : In a pilot cross-sectional analysis, 12 patients with POAG were assessed for RBF using DOCT (prototype device, Topcon, Japan) in the superior arteries (SA), inferior arteries (IA), superior veins (SV), and inferior veins (IV) in the superficial retinal blood vessels exiting the ONH. Peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness, ganglion cell complex (GCC) thickness, and cup-to-disc vertical (C/D V) ratio were obtained via optical coherence tomography (Optovue). Intraocular pressure (IOP) and VF parameters were assessed with Goldmann and Humphrey, respectively. Pearson correlations were used to test for strength of associations.

Results : There was a strong positive correlation (r=0.84; Table 1) between DOCT assessed SV RBF and average RNFL thickness. Superior hemisphere RNFL thickness was strongly correlated to SV RBF (r=0.78; Table 1) while being weakly correlated to SA RBF (r=0.37; Table 1). The strongest correlation (r=0.72; Table 1) between DOCT assessed RBF biomarkers and average GCC thickness were also identified in the SV. In the inferior hemisphere, the strongest correlation among all DOCT RBF biomarkers and RNFL thickness was in the IV (r=0.87; Table 1). IOP was negatively correlated to SA and IA and positively correlated to SV and IV RBF (Table 1). DOCT RBF biomarkers were positively correlated with VF mean deviation (r=0.49 to 0.86), and SV and IV were positively correlated with VF index and negatively correlated with VF pattern standard deviation.

Conclusions : In this pilot analysis, retinal venous blood flow had a positive correlation to RNFL and GCC thickness in patients with POAG. Specifically, RBF in the SV had the strongest relationship with ocular structure. The results from both the structural and functional analyses are indicative of sectorial hemodynamic relationships in patients with POAG.

This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.