title: Correlation between retinal vessel density profile and circumpapillary RNFL thickness measured with Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess circumpapillary retinal vessel density (RVD) profiles and correlate them with retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) thickness measured by Fourier domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT).
  
  
  METHODS
  RNFL thickness of 106 healthy volunteers was measured using Cirrus FD-OCT. A proprietary software was developed in MATLAB to assess the thickness and position of circumpapillary retinal vessels using the scanning laser ophthalmoscopy fundus image, centred on the optic disc. The individual retinal vessel positions and thickness values were integrated in a 256-sector RVD profile, and intrasubject and intersubject correlations were calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean value ± SD for intrasubject correlation between RVD and RNFL was 0.5349 ± 0.1639, with 101 of 106 subjects presenting significant correlation (p<0.05). 181 (out of 256) sectors presented a significant correlation between RVD and RNFL, with a mean value ± SD of 0.2600 ± 0.1140 (p<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Using our model of the circumpapillary retinal vessel distribution, 70% of the RNFL thickness is influenced by RVD. On average, 7% of the interindividual variance of the RNFL thickness may be explained by RVD. A normative database that takes into account the circumpapillary blood vessels might slightly improve the diagnostic power of RNFL measurement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology & Optometry, Medical University Vienna, , Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Ivania
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Holzer
authors.forename: Hemma
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Resch
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kiss
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: Clemens
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vass
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009412:Nerve Fibers; D009887:Ophthalmoscopy; D009898:Optic Disk / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000098:blood supply; D009929:Organ Size; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D012171:Retinal Vessels / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D055815:Young Adult