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Evaluating retinal vessel diameter with optical coherence tomography in normal-tension glaucoma patients

  • Clinical Investigation
  • Published:
Japanese Journal of Ophthalmology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate a novel optical coherence tomography (OCT)-derived variable, circumpapillary mean retinal shadow width (cpMRSW), and to elucidate its association with normal-tension glaucoma (NTG).

Methods

For the purpose of validation, we measured retinal vascular calibers in 68 arterioles and 100 venules of 12 NTG patients and 12 healthy subjects and compared the width of the visible retinal shadows in spectral-domain OCT images and the caliber of retinal vessels in retinal photographs. Then we calculated cpMRSW in 78 NTG eyes and 25 age-matched healthy control eyes. Additionally, we divided the patients into early (mean deviation: MD > −6 dB), moderate (MD −6 to −12 dB), and severe (MD < −12 dB) NTG groups, and compared cpMRSW in these groups. Finally, we calculated the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve in order to determine the power of mean retinal shadow width to distinguish the groups.

Results

OCT retinal shadow width was significantly correlated with photography-measured retinal caliber (r = 0.82, P < 0.001). CpMRSW was significantly different between the control and NTG patients (control: 107.3 ± 7.0 µm, mild: 99.4 ± 8.6 µm, moderate: 99.7 ± 9.5 µm, severe: 90.5 ± 12.0 µm, P < 0.001), despite similar distributions in systemic variables. An ROC analysis revealed that cpMRSW could differentiate NTGs from normal eyes (area under the ROC curve: 0.81).

Conclusions

Our new software for measuring mean retinal shadow width in OCT images may be a valuable tool for detecting NTG and diagnosing its severity.

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Acknowledgements

This paper was supported in part by JSPS KAKENHI Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (T. N. 26293372) and for Exploratory Research (T. N. 26670751), and by the JST Center for Revitalization Promotion. The authors thank Morin Ryu, Tsutomu Kikawa, Akiko Matsumoto, Masahiro Akiba for providing technical support and valuable comment, and Tim Hilts for reviewing the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1, Seiryo, Aoba, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8574, Japan

    Takeshi Yabana, Yukihiro Shiga, Kazuko Omodaka, Hidetoshi Takahashi & Toru Nakazawa

  2. Department of Public Health, Yamagata University Graduate School of Medicine, Yamagata, Japan

    Ryo Kawasaki

  3. Yamagata University, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Yamagata, Japan

    Koudai Kimura, Kyosuke Togashi, Takaaki Horii, Kei Sasaki & Testuya Yuasa

  4. Department of Retinal Disease Control, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Miyagi, Japan

    Toru Nakazawa

  5. Department of Advanced Ophthalmic Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Miyagi, Japan

    Toru Nakazawa

Authors
  1. Takeshi Yabana
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  2. Yukihiro Shiga
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  3. Ryo Kawasaki
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  4. Kazuko Omodaka
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  5. Hidetoshi Takahashi
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  6. Koudai Kimura
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  7. Kyosuke Togashi
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  8. Takaaki Horii
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  9. Kei Sasaki
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  10. Testuya Yuasa
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  11. Toru Nakazawa
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Toru Nakazawa.

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Conflicts of interest

T. Yabana, None; Y. Shiga, None; R. Kawasaki, None; K. Omodaka, None; H. Takahashi, None; K. Kimura, None; K. Togashi, None; T. Horii, None; K. Sasaki, None; T. Yuasa, None; T. Nakazawa, None.

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Yabana, T., Shiga, Y., Kawasaki, R. et al. Evaluating retinal vessel diameter with optical coherence tomography in normal-tension glaucoma patients. Jpn J Ophthalmol 61, 378–387 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10384-017-0523-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10384-017-0523-z

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