This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Combined measurements may better estimate rate of retinal ganglion cell loss
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
When detecting progressive glaucoma damage, estimates of the rate of retinal ganglion cell loss were better with combined structural and functional measures than estimates that used just one of the measures, a study found.
“The evaluation of rates of neuronal loss based on estimates of [retinal ganglion cell] counts combining structure and function was able to detect a larger number of glaucomatous eyes as progressing compared with the use of isolated measures of [standard automated perimetry] or [optical coherence tomography], while maintaining comparable specificity in a group of stable eyes,” the study authors said.
The observational cohort study analyzed 213 eyes of 213 glaucoma patients with a mean age of 60 years. The subjects were followed for an average of 4.5 ± 0.8 years with standard automated perimetry visual fields and OCT. A group of 52 eyes of 52 healthy subjects were followed for an average of 4 ± 0.7 years to estimate age-related losses of retinal ganglion cells.
Forty-seven of the 213 eyes had a loss of retinal ganglion cells that was faster than the age-expected decline, with a larger proportion of glaucomatous eyes demonstrating progression based on the rate of retinal ganglion cell loss rather than OCT (31 eyes) or standard automated perimetry (18 eyes).
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts