Skip to main content
eScholarship
Open Access Publications from the University of California

UC Davis

UC Davis Previously Published Works bannerUC Davis

Evidence of outer retinal changes in glaucoma patients as revealed by ultrahigh-resolution in vivo retinal imaging

Abstract

Unlabelled

AIMS; It is well established that glaucoma results in a thinning of the inner retina. To investigate whether the outer retina is also involved, ultrahigh-resolution retinal imaging techniques were utilised.

Methods

Eyes from 10 glaucoma patients (25-78 years old), were imaged using three research-grade instruments: (1) ultrahigh-resolution Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography (UHR-FD-OCT), (2) adaptive optics (AO) UHR-FD-OCT and (3) AO-flood illuminated fundus camera (AO-FC). UHR-FD-OCT and AO-UHR-FD-OCT B-scans were examined for any abnormalities in the retinal layers. On some patients, cone density measurements were made from the AO-FC en face images. Correlations between retinal structure and visual sensitivity were measured by Humphrey visual-field (VF) testing made at the corresponding retinal locations.

Results

All three in vivo imaging modalities revealed evidence of outer retinal changes along with the expected thinning of the inner retina in glaucomatous eyes with VF loss. AO-UHR-FD-OCT images identified the exact location of structural changes within the cone photoreceptor layer with the AO-FC en face images showing dark areas in the cone mosaic at the same retinal locations with reduced visual sensitivity.

Conclusion

Losses in cone density along with expected inner retinal changes were demonstrated in well-characterised glaucoma patients with VF loss.

Many UC-authored scholarly publications are freely available on this site because of the UC's open access policies. Let us know how this access is important for you.

Main Content
For improved accessibility of PDF content, download the file to your device.
Current View