[Principals and clinical applications of optical coherence tomography in glaucoma]

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) supplies morphological information from different retinal layers. In glaucoma, analysis of the nerve fiber layer is gaining more and more significance: Losses in this layer often precede by years functional losses in the visual field and end up in optical nerve head changes. OCT offers a means for imaging and for measurement of the nerve fiber layer besides morphological analysis of ONH as one of the earliest sensitive parameters in modern glaucoma diagnostics. However, because of the lack of extensive comparative data, the priority use of optical coherence morphometry is to be seen mainly in intraindividual follow-up.