title: Relationship Between Central Retinal Vessel Trunk Location and Visual Field Loss in Glaucoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the relationship between horizontal central retinal vessel trunk location (CRVTL) on glaucomatous optic discs and sector-specific visual field (VF) loss.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  CRVTL of 421 eyes from 421 patients was manually tracked on the horizontal optic disc axis on fundus images. Focal circumpapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (cpRNFLT) measurements were extracted from optical coherence tomography (OCT). The relationship between focal visual field (VF) loss and CRVTL and focal cpRNFLT was studied by linear regression models. Furthermore, we related central VF loss to CRVTL and focal cpRNFLT separately for mild (VF mean deviation [MD] ≥-6 dB), moderate (-12 dB ≤ MD <-6 dB), and severe (MD <-12 dB) glaucoma.
  
  
  RESULTS
  CRVTL nasalization was significantly correlated only to central VF loss (Garway-Heath scheme [central 6 locations, C6]: correlation: r = -0.16, P < .001; macular vulnerability zone [central 2 locations, C2]: r = -0.14, P = .003; central 4 locations [C4]: r = -0.17, P < .001). While focal cpRNFLT at the sectors corresponding to C2 and C6 was significantly correlated to the respective VF sectors as well (C2: r = 0.15, P = .002; C6: r = 0.10, P = .03), multivariate models combining cpRNFLT and CRVTL substantially improved structure-function models compared with cpRNFLT alone (likelihood ratio tests, C2 and C6: P < .001). The correlations between CRVTL and central VF loss of C4 were -0.11 (P = .04), -0.39 (P = .01), and -0.63 (P = .002) for mild, moderate, and severe glaucoma, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CRVTL nasalization is significantly and exclusively correlated to central VF loss for all glaucoma severities independent of cpRNFLT, and thus might be a structural biomarker of central VF loss.
authors.affiliation: Schepens Eye Research Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Mengyu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Schepens Eye Research Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Institute for Psychology and Behavior, Jilin University of Finance and Economics, Changchun, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Louis R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Pasquale
authors.affiliation: Schepens Eye Research Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Neda
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Baniasadi
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Lucy Q
authors.initials: LQ
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Bex
authors.affiliation: Schepens Eye Research Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences, Leipzig, Germany. Electronic address: tobias-elze@tobias-elze.de.
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Elze
mesh_terms: D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005901:Glaucoma / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007429:Intraocular Pressure; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000473:pathology; D009898:Optic Disk / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000473:pathology; D012171:Retinal Vessels / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012607:Scotoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*; D014792:Visual Acuity; D058609:Visual Field Tests; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology*