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Higher optic nerve sheath diameters are associated with lower ocular blood flow velocities in glaucoma patients

  • Glaucoma
  • Published:
Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the relationship between optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) and retrobulbar blood flow velocities, as measured by color Doppler imaging (CDI) in glaucoma patients.

Methods

We performed a prospective, randomized, observer-masked study involving a total of 197 subjects. Once enrolled, they were divided by three groups: healthy controls (n = 51), normal-tension glaucoma patients (NTG, n = 58), and primary, open-angle glaucoma patients (POAG, n = 88). All subjects underwent a general ophthalmological examination, an ultrasound-based assessment of the ONSD, and a hemodynamic study of the retrobulbar vascularization using CDI. Non-parametric tests, chi-square contingency tables, and the Deming correlations were used to explore differences and correlations between variables in the diagnostic groups.

Results

ONSD was not different between experimental groups (p = 0.28). ONSD correlated positively with the pulsatility index of the ophthalmic artery in healthy individuals (p = 0.007), but not in glaucoma patients (NTG: p = 0.41; POAG: p = 0.22). In NTG patients, higher ONSD values were associated with lower end-diastolic and mean flow velocities in the short ciliary arteries (p = 0.005 in both correlations). No such correlation was found in healthy nor POAG groups (p range between 0.15 to 0.96). ONSD was not associated with any CDI-related variable of the central retinal artery in any cohort. Venous outflow velocities were not associated with ONSD in any of the three groups.

Conclusions

ONSD is negatively correlated with retrobulbar blood flow velocities in glaucoma patients, but not in healthy controls.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Sien Boons for her technical support.

Conflict of interest

None of the authors have any conflict of interest to declare.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospitals Leuven, Campus St. Raphaël, Kapucijnenvoer 33, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Koen Willekens, Evelien Vandewalle & Ingeborg Stalmans

  2. Department of Ophthalmology, Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Central, Lisbon, Portugal

    Luís Abegão Pinto

  3. Institute of Pharmacology and Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, Lisbon University, Lisbon, Portugal

    Luís Abegão Pinto

  4. Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Lisbon University, Lisbon, Portugal

    Carlos Marques-Neves

  5. Department of Ophthalmology Neurosciences, Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Ingeborg Stalmans

Authors
  1. Koen Willekens
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  2. Luís Abegão Pinto
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  3. Evelien Vandewalle
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  4. Carlos Marques-Neves
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  5. Ingeborg Stalmans
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ingeborg Stalmans.

Additional information

Koen Willekens and Luís Abegão Pinto contributed equally to the study, and should both be considered as first author.

This study was registered on clinicaltrial.gov with the following number: NCT01802463

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Willekens, K., Abegão Pinto, L., Vandewalle, E. et al. Higher optic nerve sheath diameters are associated with lower ocular blood flow velocities in glaucoma patients. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 252, 477–483 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-013-2533-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-013-2533-y

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