Blood flow in the peripapillary retina in exfoliation glaucoma

The aim of this article is to study peripapillary retinal blood flow in patients with progressive and stable exfoliation glaucoma (ExG).

Fifty-eight eyes with ExG were included; 25 of them had progressive and 33 stable glaucoma. Retinal blood flow in the peripapillary retina was measured with scanning laser Doppler flowmetry. Acquired flow maps were analysed with the automatic full-field perfusion image analyser. Multiple logistic regression was used to model progression of glaucoma.

Mean retinal flow (MF; correlation coefficient, P-value; R = 0.36, P = 0.006) and retinal minimum diastolic flow (R = 0.33, P = 0.011) were positively correlated with visual field mean defect (MD). Factors associated with progressive glaucoma were mean intraocular pressure (OR = 1.198 for each mmHg; P = 0.050) and visual field MD (OR = 1.134 for each dB; P = 0.013). Age (P = 0.35), MF (P = 0.58), or presence of cardiovascular disease (P = 0.17) were not associated with glaucoma progression.

No difference in peripapillary retinal blood flow between progressive and stable ExG could be found.