title: Glaucomatous eye macular ganglion cell complex thickness and its relation to temporal circumpapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To clarify the correlation between temporal circumpapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness and macular ganglion cell complex (mGCC) thickness in glaucomatous eyes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-seven eyes of 77 subjects were categorized as normal, early glaucoma and moderate-to-advanced (moderate) glaucoma. After the circumpapillary RNFL thickness and mGCC thickness were measured, the temporal mean RNFL and mean mGCC were compared within the three groups. The study also investigated whether there was any correlation between the temporal RNFL and mGCC thicknesses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the glaucoma groups, significant thinning of the temporal RNFL and mGCC thicknesses was noted. With the exception of the papillomacular bundle (r = -0.078), correlations were seen in each of the early glaucoma mGCC and temporal RNFL sectors (r = 0.38-0.753). Correlations were also noted for the mGCC and all temporal RNFL sectors in the moderate glaucoma group (r = 0.425-0.809).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  From the early stage of glaucoma, similar decreases of the mGCC and RNFL occured, and a high correlation existed between the two. Therefore, like RNFL, mGCC can potentially be used to detect the early stages of glaucoma. However, in early glaucoma eyes, the papillomacular bundle of the RNFL may be spared, even though mGCC thinning is present.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Ophthalmology, Toho University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. yoshiyuki.kita@med.toho-u.ac.jp.|Department of Ophthalmology, Toho University, Ohashi Medical Center, 2-17-6 Ohashi, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 153-8515, Japan. yoshiyuki.kita@med.toho-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kita
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Ophthalmology, Toho University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.|Department of Ophthalmology, Toho University, Ohashi Medical Center, 2-17-6 Ohashi, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 153-8515, Japan.
authors.forename: Ritsuko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kita
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Ophthalmology, Toho University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.|Department of Ophthalmology, Toho University, Ohashi Medical Center, 2-17-6 Ohashi, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 153-8515, Japan.
authors.forename: Ai
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nitta
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Informatics, Toho University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Chiaki
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nishimura
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Ophthalmology, Toho University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.|Department of Ophthalmology, Toho University, Ohashi Medical Center, 2-17-6 Ohashi, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 153-8515, Japan.
authors.forename: Goji
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tomita
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005901:Glaucoma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006068:Gonioscopy; D006801:Humans; D007429:Intraocular Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D033401:Microscopy, Acoustic; D008875:Middle Aged; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000473:pathology*; D009898:Optic Disk / Q000473:pathology*; D009901:Optic Nerve Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology; D058609:Visual Field Tests; D014794:Visual Fields