A new parameter for assessing the thickness of the retinal nerve fiber layer for glaucoma diagnosis.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate a new method for assessing the thickness of the retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (NFLT) for glaucoma diagnosis, using scanning laser polarimetry.


METHODS
Thirty eyes of thirty patients with ocular hypertension or glaucoma were examined using a scanning laser polarimeter. NFL T was measured in each of four 90-degree quadrants; superior (S), temporal (T), inferior (I) and nasal (N) along 1.5-disc diameters concentric from the disc margin. The new parameters S-N (meaning the thickness of the superior nerve fiber layer over the nasal one) etc. were compared with the conventional parameters (S, S/N, etc.). The correlations between these parameters and the mean threshold of the associated visual field test points were included in the comparison.


RESULTS
The total thickness (sum of S, I, N and T), N and T did not correlate to the visual field, but S and I did. The new parameters were well correlated to the visual field, S-N giving the best correlation coefficient (rs = O. 782, p < O.0001), and sensitivity and specificity (the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves was 0.91).


CONCLUSIONS
The nasal NFLT was the smallest part of individual variation and glaucomatous damage. The new parameters, based on the nasal NFLT, were good evaluators of the changes in glaucoma.
Kogure
S
S
Department of Ophthalmology, Yamanashi Medical University, Tamaho, Japan. skogure@res.yamanashi-med.ac.jp
Iijima
H
H
Tsukahara
S
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005902:Glaucoma, Open-Angle / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007834:Lasers; D008875:Middle Aged; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000473:pathology*; D009798:Ocular Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis*; D009900:Optic Nerve / Q000473:pathology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012160:Retina / Q000473:pathology*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D058609:Visual Field Tests / Q000379:methods; D014794:Visual Fields