Decreased Lamina Cribrosa Beam Thickness and Pore Diameter Relative to Distance From the Central Retinal Vessel Trunk.
To investigate how the lamina cribrosa (LC) microstructure changes with distance from the central retinal vessel trunk (CRVT), and to determine how this change differs in glaucoma.



One hundred nineteen eyes (40 healthy, 29 glaucoma suspect, and 50 glaucoma) of 105 subjects were imaged using swept-source optical coherence tomography (OCT). The CRVT was manually delineated at the level of the anterior LC surface. A line was fit to the distribution of LC microstructural parameters and distance from CRVT to measure the gradient (change in LC microstructure per distance from the CRVT) and intercept (LC microstructure near the CRVT). A linear mixed-effects model was used to determine the effect of diagnosis on the gradient and intercept of the LC microstructure with distance from the CRVT. A Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was applied to determine the difference in distribution between the diagnostic categories.



The percent of visible LC in all scans was 26 ± 7%. Beam thickness and pore diameter decreased with distance from the CRVT. Glaucoma eyes had a larger decrease in beam thickness (-1.132 ± 0.503 μm, P = 0.028) and pore diameter (-0.913 ± 0.259 μm, P = 0.001) compared with healthy controls per 100 μm from the CRVT. Glaucoma eyes showed increased variability in both beam thickness and pore diameter relative to the distance from the CRVT compared with healthy eyes (P < 0.05).



These findings results demonstrate the importance of considering the anatomical location of CRVT in the assessment of the LC, as there is a relationship between the distance from the CRVT and the LC microstructure, which differs between healthy and glaucoma eyes.
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, UPMC Eye Center, Eye and Ear Institute, Ophthalmology and Visual Science Research Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States 2Department of Bioengineering, Swanson School of En.
Bo
B
Wang
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, UPMC Eye Center, Eye and Ear Institute, Ophthalmology and Visual Science Research Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.
Katie A
KA
Lucy
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, UPMC Eye Center, Eye and Ear Institute, Ophthalmology and Visual Science Research Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States 2Department of Bioengineering, Swanson School of En.
Joel S
JS
Schuman
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, UPMC Eye Center, Eye and Ear Institute, Ophthalmology and Visual Science Research Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States 2Department of Bioengineering, Swanson School of En.
Ian A
IA
Sigal
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, UPMC Eye Center, Eye and Ear Institute, Ophthalmology and Visual Science Research Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States 4Department of Biostatistics, University of Pittsbu.
Richard A
RA
Bilonick
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, UPMC Eye Center, Eye and Ear Institute, Ophthalmology and Visual Science Research Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States 2Department of Bioengineering, Swanson School of En.
Larry
L
Kagemann
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, UPMC Eye Center, Eye and Ear Institute, Ophthalmology and Visual Science Research Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.
Tigran
T
Kostanyan
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.
Chen
C
Lu
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.
Jonathan
J
Liu
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.
Ireneusz
I
Grulkowski
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.
James G
JG
Fujimoto
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, UPMC Eye Center, Eye and Ear Institute, Ophthalmology and Visual Science Research Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States 2Department of Bioengineering, Swanson School of En.
Hiroshi
H
Ishikawa
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, UPMC Eye Center, Eye and Ear Institute, Ophthalmology and Visual Science Research Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States 2Department of Bioengineering, Swanson School of En.
Gadi
G
Wollstein
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005901:Glaucoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods; D007429:Intraocular Pressure; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009898:Optic Disk / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009901:Optic Nerve Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods; D014794:Visual Fields