Combining nerve fiber layer parameters to optimize glaucoma diagnosis with optical coherence tomography.
OBJECTIVE
To identify the best combination of Stratus optical coherence tomography (OCT) retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness parameters for the detection of glaucoma.


METHODS
Observational cross-sectional study.


METHODS
Eighty-nine age-matched normal and perimetric glaucoma participants enrolled in the Advanced Imaging for Glaucoma Study.


METHODS
The Zeiss Stratus OCT system was used to obtain the circumpapillary RNFL thickness in both eyes of each participant. Right and left eye clock-hour data are analyzed together, assuming mirror-image symmetry. The RNFL diagnostic parameters were combined using either or-logic or and-logic approaches.


METHODS
Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AROC), sensitivity, and specificity are used to evaluate diagnostic performance.


RESULTS
Overall average RNFL thickness has the highest AROC value (0.89) of all single parameters evaluated, followed by the inferior and superior quadrants (0.88 and 0.86, respectively). The clock hours with the best AROC values are in the inferior and superior quadrants. The highest AROC (0.92) was achieved by the or-logic combination of overall, inferior, and superior quadrant RNFL thicknesses. The 3-parameter combination was significantly better than the overall average alone (P = 0.01). The addition of more quadrants or clock hours to the combination reduced diagnostic performance.


CONCLUSIONS
The best stand-alone diagnostic strategy for Stratus OCT RNFL data is to classify an eye as glaucomatous if the overall, inferior quadrant, or superior quadrant RNFL thickness average is below normal.
Doheny Eye Institute and Department of Ophthalmology, Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Ake Tzu-Hui
AT
Lu
Mingwu
M
Wang
Rohit
R
Varma
Joel S
JS
Schuman
David S
DS
Greenfield
Scott D
SD
Smith
David
D
Huang
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005901:Glaucoma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007429:Intraocular Pressure; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000473:pathology*; D009898:Optic Disk / Q000473:pathology*; D009901:Optic Nerve Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012372:ROC Curve; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*; D058609:Visual Field Tests; D014794:Visual Fields