Morphometric characteristics of optic disk with disk hemorrhage in normal-tension glaucoma

To evaluate the morphometric characteristics of the optic disk in eyes with and without disk hemorrhage in normal-tension glaucoma.

This was a prospective study conducted at Gifu University Hospital of 50 eyes of 50 patients with normal-tension glaucoma (12 men, 38 women; age, 56.5 +/- 14.1 years) who had developed new disk hemorrhage at the time of enrollment and 58 eyes of 58 patients with normal-tension glaucoma (20 men, 38 women; age, 56.7 +/- 12.4 years) with no history of disk hemorrhage during the follow-up period of more than 2 years. Age and global indexes of the visual field were matched. We morphometrically compared the optic disk with and without hemorrhage using a scanning laser tomograph. Global and sector analyses were made of the optic disk structural parameters.

There was no significant difference in the global values of the disk parameters between the disk hemorrhage and the nonhemorrhage groups. However, the inferotemporal values for the rim area, rim volume, mean retinal nerve fiber layer thickness, and retinal nerve fiber layer cross-section area in the disk hemorrhage group were significantly smaller than those in the nonhemorrhage group (P <.05). In the disk hemorrhage group, moreover, the values for the rim area, rim volume, and retinal nerve fiber layer cross-section area in the inferotemporal sector with hemorrhage were significantly smaller than those in the same sector without hemorrhage (P <.05).

Localized damage of the disk rim and retinal nerve fiber layer at the inferotemporal sector was prominent in eyes with disk hemorrhage.