This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Study characterizes differences between older and younger glaucomatous eyes
 Ruojin Ren |
NEW YORK — In patients with ocular hypertension and early glaucoma, one study has borne out its hypothesis that age-related differences in lamina cribrosa depth are identifiable by spectral domain optical coherence tomography, a speaker said here.
"More importantly, our data are consistent with the concepts that old eyes are structurally stiffer than young eyes. Structural change in old compared to young eyes includes a greater portion of neural tissue loss for a given amount of lamina cribrosa deformation," Ruojin Ren, MD, PhD, said at the American Glaucoma Society annual meeting. "A given amount of laminar deformation will be associated with greater visual field loss in old compared to young eyes."
The researchers hypothesized that there are age-related differences in the structure and function relationships manifested as shallow cupping seen in older glaucomatous eyes, attributable to their stiffer connective tissues, compared with the deep cupping seen in younger glaucomatous eyes.
Two hundred twenty-one participants underwent a standard ophthalmologic examination, including automated perimetry and SD-OCT on the same day.
- Disclosure: Dr. Ren has no relevant financial disclosures.
