Comparison between Peripapillary Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer and Perifoveal Inner Macular thickness in Early Diagnosis of Primary Open Angle Glaucoma Using Angiovue OCT

Glaucoma

Abstract

Introduction: Retinal ganglion cells (RGC) damage with a subsequent retinal nerve fiber (RNF) loss is considered an important step in  the pathogenesis of glaucomatous optic neuropathy (GON). The death of the RGC leads to the atrophy of the axons that form the  retina nerve fiber layer (RNFL). This is revealed as thinning of the RNFL by optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging.1 The aim of  this study was to evaluate the peripapillary retinal nerve fibers layer (pRNFL) thickness and perifoveal inner macular thickness in early  detection of glaucomatous optic neuropathy (GON) using the optical coherence tomomgraphy Angiography (Angiovue OCT).

Methods: Included in our study were 40 eyes of 23 patients with early stage primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) {early glaucoma  (EG) group}, 30 eyes of 17 glaucoma suspects (GS) and 20 eyes of 10 healthy subjects {normal (N) group}. The median ages of the  respective groups were 64.0 (58.0 – 74.0), 57.5 (44.0 – 60.0), 52.0 (51.0 – 53.0). All subjects underwent Angiovue OCT scanning (‘ONH  scan’ and ‘Retina Thickness Map 5mm x 5mm’ scan for the pRNFL and perifoveal inner macular regions respectively) using RTVue100  “Optovue”. Parameters analyzed were average total, superior, inferior, temporal and nasal thicknesses of both regions