Correlation between macular thickness and glaucomatous visual fields

The purpose of the study was to establish whether predictable structural relationships exist between macular thickness parameters and anatomically related visual field (VF) defects.

The optical coherence tomography (OCT) macular scans and automated VFs of 127 eyes of 127 glaucoma patients were examined retrospectively. The macular scan parameters recorded included the superior inner and outer sectors and the inferior inner and outer sectors. For the VFs, the threshold sensitivities of the central 4×4 points were recorded. The 16 points were grouped into superior outer, superior inner, inferior inner, and inferior outer rows, and the mean of each row was calculated. The OCT macular scan sectors and the VF rows were compared using the Spearman correlation.

Statistically significant structural relationships between each macular parameter and its anatomically related VF defect were noted in this study. Highest correlations were found between the inferior outer macular thickness and the superior outer VF region, the inferior inner macular and the superior inner VF region, the superior inner macula and the inferior inner VF region, and the superior outer macula and the inferior outer VF region.

As a predictable and significant structural relationship exists between macular thickness and VF defects, macular scan OCT should be studied further and considered more carefully in the diagnosis and management of glaucoma.