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Correlation between optic disc perfusion and glaucomatous severity in patients with open-angle glaucoma: an optical coherence tomography angiography study

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

Abstract

Purpose

To explore how optic disc perfusion varies in patients with open-angle glaucoma (OAG) and how this correlates with glaucoma severity.

Methods

We performed a prospective and cross-sectional observational study that included 62 eyes from 62 patients with OAG, divided into three groups according to their visual field (VF) results, and 20 eyes from 20 normal control subjects. Optic disc perfusion was studied using optical coherence tomography angiography (angio-OCT), and flow index and vessel density were determined. The VF, mean deviation (MD), pattern standard deviation (PSD), retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness, and ganglion cell complex (GCC) thickness were also recorded. The potential associations between disc perfusion and VF defects or structural loss were analyzed.

Results

In OAG patients, the disc flow index and vessel density were significantly lower than in normal controls (all p<0.001) and were correlated with the severity of glaucoma. In OAG eyes, the flow index and vessel density were significantly correlated with MD, RNFL, and GCC thickness (all p<0.01), but were not in the normal controls. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis also revealed that disc flow index and vessel density had the power to differentiate normal eyes from eyes with OAG (under the ROC curves: 0.82 and 0.80, respectively).

Conclusions

Angiograms demonstrated a reduced disc flow index and vessel density in glaucoma, and this reduction was closely related to GCC thickness. This indicated that measurement of disc perfusion by angio-OCT might be important for the monitoring of glaucoma.

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Funding statement

Project supported by the National Major Scientific Equipment program (Grant No. 2012YQ12008003, China), by the Special Scientific Research Project of Health Professions (Grant No. 201302015, China)

Conflict of interest

Tony Ko is an employee of Optovue, Inc.

Author information

Author notes

    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, 83 Fenyang Road, Shanghai, 200031, China

      Xiaolei Wang, Chunhui Jiang, Xiangmei Kong, Xiaobo Yu, Wang Min & Xinghuai Sun

    2. Key Laboratory of Myopia, Ministry of Health (Fudan University), Shanghai, China

      Chunhui Jiang, Xiangmei Kong, Xiaobo Yu, Wang Min & Xinghuai Sun

    3. Optovue, Inc, Fremont, CA, USA

      Tony Ko

    4. Key Laboratory on Adaptive Optics, Institute of Optics and Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, China

      Guohua Shi

    5. State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Institutes of Brain Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

      Xinghuai Sun

    6. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Visual Impairment and Restoration (Fudan University), Shanghai, China

      Xinghuai Sun

    Authors
    1. Xiaolei Wang
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    2. Chunhui Jiang
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    3. Tony Ko
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    4. Xiangmei Kong
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    Correspondence to Xinghuai Sun.

    Additional information

    Xiaolei Wang and Chunhui Jiang contributed equally to this work.

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    Wang, X., Jiang, C., Ko, T. et al. Correlation between optic disc perfusion and glaucomatous severity in patients with open-angle glaucoma: an optical coherence tomography angiography study. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 253, 1557–1564 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-015-3095-y

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-015-3095-y

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