Comparison of optical coherence tomography angiography metrics in primary angle-closure glaucoma and normal-tension glaucoma

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 11; no. 1; pp. 23136 - 9
• Main Authors: Shen, Ruyue, Wang, Yu Meng, Cheung, Carol Y., Chan, Poemen P., Tham, Clement C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 30.11.2021; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 692/699/3161; 692/699/3161/3169/3170; Angiography; Benchmarking; Cross-Sectional Studies; Eye; Female; Glaucoma; Glaucoma, Angle-Closure - diagnostic imaging; Glaucoma, Open-Angle; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Intraocular Pressure; Low Tension Glaucoma - diagnostic imaging; Male; Medical imaging; Microcirculation; Middle Aged; multidisciplinary; Multivariate Analysis; Nerve Fibers; Optic Disk - blood supply; Optic Nerve; Retinal Ganglion Cells; Retinal Vessels - diagnostic imaging; Retinal Vessels - pathology; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Tomography; Tomography, Optical Coherence - methods; Tonometry, Ocular; Visual field; Visual Field Tests; Visual Fields - physiology
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-02296-x

To investigate the peripapillary vascular metrics in early normal tension glaucoma (NTG) and early primary angle closure glaucoma (PACG) eyes using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A). One or both eyes of each subject were imaged for a 3 × 3 mm peripapillary region by swept-source OCT-A (DRI-OCT Triton, Topcon, Japan) and assessed by an automated MATLAB program. OCT-A metrics including circumpapillary vessel density (cpVD) and fractal dimension (cpFD) were compared. Their association with visual field (VF) parameters and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness were determined. Sixty-eight eyes of 51 PACG, 68 eyes of 48 NTG, and 68 eyes of 49 control subjects were cross-sectionally analyzed. NTG eyes had significantly lower global cpVD (52.369 ± 0.781%) compared with PACG eyes (55.389 ± 0.721%, P  = 0.004) that had comparable disease severity and average RNFL thickness. Multivariable analysis revealed that, for PACG and NTG eyes, decreased cpVD ([PACG] β = −4.242; CI: −8.120, −0.363 vs [NTG] β = −5.531; CI: −9.472, −1.590) and cpFD ([PACG] β = −8.894;CI: −11.925, −5.864 vs [NTG] β = −12.064; CI: −17.095, −6.932) were associated with decreased RNFL thickness (all P  ≤ 0.032); with a stronger association between decrease cpFD and decreased RNFL thickness in NTG eyes ( P  = 0.028). Decreased cpVD was associated with decrease mean deviation (MD) in NTG eyes (β = −0.707; CI: −1.090, −0.324; P  ≤ 0.001) and not associated with the visual field parameters in PACG eyes. Early NTG had lower global cpVD compared with early PACG, despite similar disease severity and average RNFL thickness.