title: Relationship between central corneal thickness and changes of optic nerve head topography and blood flow after intraocular pressure reduction in open-angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate changes in optic nerve head topography and blood flow after therapeutic intraocular pressure reduction and to correlate them with central corneal thickness.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixteen patients with open-angle glaucoma and 16 patients with ocular hypertension underwent Heidelberg retina tomography and scanning laser Doppler flowmetry in 1 eye before and at least 2 months after a mean 35% sustained therapeutic reduction in intraocular pressure. Patients were assigned to a thin or thick group based on their median central corneal thickness.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with 16 patients with thick corneas (mean +/- SD central corneal thickness, 587 +/- 31 microm), the 16 patients with thin corneas (518 +/- 32 microm) had greater reductions in mean (36 +/- 32 vs 4 +/- 36 microm, P = .003) and in maximum cup depth (73 +/- 107 vs 4 +/- 89 microm, P = .02). These changes were not statistically significantly different between the patients with open-angle glaucoma and those with ocular hypertension. Smaller mean +/- SD improvements in neuroretinal rim blood flow were seen in patients with thinner corneas compared with those with thicker corneas (35 +/- 80 vs 110 +/- 111 arbitrary units, P = .04).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with open-angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension with thinner corneas show significantly greater shallowing of the cup, a surrogate marker for lamina cribrosa displacement (compliance), and smaller improvements of neuroretinal rim blood flow after intraocular pressure reduction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec. lesk@videotron.ca
authors.forename: Mark R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Lesk
authors.forename: Ali S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Hafez
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Descovich
mesh_terms: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology; D001837:Body Weights and Measures; D003315:Cornea / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D005902:Glaucoma, Open-Angle / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D006068:Gonioscopy; D006801:Humans; D007429:Intraocular Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D017078:Laser-Doppler Flowmetry; D008875:Middle Aged; D009798:Ocular Hypertension / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D009898:Optic Disk / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology*; D012039:Regional Blood Flow / Q000502:physiology; D014054:Tomography; D014065:Tonometry, Ocular; D014130:Trabeculectomy; D014463:Ultrasonography
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents