Aim of study: To investigate the correlation between optic disc parameters (disc area and vertical cup disc ratio) and
peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and its value in evaluating glaucoma cases using optical coherence
tomography.
Methods: this study included 35 eyes of 20 patients, 9 males and 11 females. 17 eyes as glaucoma cases and 18
control eyes (age: 51.8±10.85years old) were recruited at ophthalmology department at Benha university hospital.
Complete ophthalmic assessment, visual field and OCT optic nerve imaging were done at the investigation unit of the
department.
Results: Disc area (DA) values (M±SD) were 2.31± 0.34 and 2.69±0.51 for cases and control respectively (P value:
0.016). VCDR values (M±SD) were 0.67±0.16 and 0.62 ±0.14 for cases and control respectively (p value: 0.28). DA
show only significant correlation to nasal PPRNFL thickness while VCDR show only significant negative correlation
to average PPRNFL thickness. There is significant positive correlation between VCDR and DA. ROC curve analysis
testing validity of DA and VCDR to predict glaucoma show high sensitivity (82.4%) and low specificity (61.1%) for
DA (p value 0.009) and low sensitivity (58.8%) and low specificity (44.4%) for VCDR (p value 0.85).
Conclusion: VCDR may be an insensitive method for evaluating or monitoring glaucomatous functional damage in
POAG or classifying its severity. Disc area significantly affects VCDR and may have a role in predicting POAG cases. |
