Association Between Superficial Vessel Density, Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness And Visual Field Loss In Primary Open-Angle And Pseudoexfoliative Glaucoma
Published 2023 - 41st Congress of the ESCRS
Reference: PP23.14 | DOI: 10.82333/m4mp-pk52
Authors: Ante Prpic* 1 , Iva Fercek 1 , Katia Novak-Laus 1 , Zoran Vatavuk 1
1University Hospital Center Sestre milosrdnice,Zagreb,Croatia
To examine the peripapillary (RPC) and macular (SMVD) density of surface blood vessels, the peripapillary thickness of the nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) and the inner thickness of the macula (ILM-IPL) in eyes with primary open-angle (POAG) and pseudoexfoliative (PEX) glaucoma depending on the visual field impairment and to determine the value of OCT angiography in the preoperative evaluation of glaucoma patients undergoing phacoemulsification.
The research was conducted at the Clinic for Eye Diseases of the University Hospital Center Sestre milosrdnice in Zagreb in the period from July 2022 to February 2023.
A total of 50 eyes were diagnosed as POAG and 50 as PEX. Both investigated groups were divided into 3 subgroups according to Hodapp's classification of visual field impairment: early glaucomatous impairment, moderate glaucomatous impairment and advanced glaucomatous impairment. All patients underwent optical coherence tomography (OCT) angiography of the optic nerve head and macula on the RTVue XR Avanti device (Optovue, Inc, Fremont, California, USA) and RPC, pRNFL, SMVD and ILM-IPL were compared. Both groups were equivalent in terms of gender, age and degree of visual field impairment.
The overall mean values of RPC, pRNFL, SMVD and ILM-IPL did not show a statistically significant difference. In eyes with PEX and with regard to visual field impairment, the measured values were as follows: RPC 49.08 % / 39.19 % / 31.94% (p=0,000005), pRNFL 98.34 µm / 78.75 µm / 61.25 µm (p=0,00001), SMVD 94 .6 %/ 76.87 %/ 59.26 % (p=0,0002) and ILM-IPL 39.54 µm / 33oups, the decrease in pRNFL values positively correlated with the decrease in RPC values (p<0,0001) as well as the decrease in ILM-IPL and SMVD values (p<0,0001).
The greater the damage to the visual field in both groups, the lower the density of peripapillary and macular surface blood vessels, and the lower the values of the peripapillary thickness of the nerve fiber layer and the inner thickness of the macula. OCT angiography may have a great value in the preoperative phacoemulsification management and postoperative expectations in glaucoma patients to whom the visual field was not made.