Arterial diameters decrease in both progressive, nonprogressive glaucoma

Retinal arterial diameters decreased in patients with both progressive and nonprogressive glaucoma in a prospective study. Little evidence exists that arterial narrowing is more pronounced in progressive glaucomatous disease, the researchers concluded.

Adael S. Soares, MD, and others at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia prospectively followed 44 eyes of 44 patients with open-angle glaucoma for a mean of 4.9 years. Changes in arterial diameter were compared between baseline and latest follow-up. The diameters of the four major arteries were measured at the optic disc margin and at the broadest and thinnest locations within 1 optic disc diameter from the disc margin.

Visual field progression was observed in 13 patients and optic disc progression in 24 patients. On average, the arterial diameter at the edge of the optic disc decreased significantly by 2.37% per year of follow-up. Generalized or focal arterial narrowing was not significantly different between the progressive and nonprogressive groups, regardless of criterion used, the authors reported in the Journal of Glaucoma.

The power to detect a 10% difference in arterial narrowing between the two groups was 66% in this study, the authors noted.

There was no relationship between the rates of visual field progression and arterial diameter change in the whole group or when segregated into progressing and nonprogressing groups.