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Macular thickness decreases, asymmetry increases in POAG patients
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DENVER – Patients with primary open-angle glaucoma experienced several changes in macular thickness compared to control patients, according to a study presented here.
Jason Koschmeder, OD, and colleagues conducted a prospective, longitudinal, observational study with 72 primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and 43 normal participants to measure changes in macular thickness symmetry and its association with glaucoma progression.
“This study was designed to utilize the excellent stability of macular thickness and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography to assess asymmetry,” he said. “Because glaucoma typically progresses with asymmetry, this study investigated whether subjects with primary open-angle glaucoma exhibit greater macular thickness change over time vs. normal subjects.”
Koschmeder explained that they utilized the Spectralis SD-OCT (Heidelberg Engineering) to measure macular thickness and calculated macular thickness asymmetry in several ways.
Researchers found that inferior, superior and total macular thickness was significantly decreased in POAG patients. Additionally, POAG patients exhibited increasing macular thickness inter-eye asymmetry compared to normal patients.
“Over a short time frame of about two years, macular thickness decreased and inter-eye asymmetry increased in the glaucoma group,” Koschmeder said. “An increase in macular thickness asymmetry is associated with worsening visual field loss, which indicates a structure-function relationship, thus bolstering the power of this study’s results,” he continued.
Koschmeder noted that, due to the nature of the study, the methods would translate well clinically.
“Macular thickness and macular thickness asymmetry changed in POAG subjects and not in normal subjects in this short study,” he concluded. “Given these findings, along with a very high reproducibility with spectral domain OCT, both posterior macular thickness and macular thickness asymmetry appear to have significant potential for use as a clinical tool for identifying glaucoma progression.”– by Chelsea Frajerman