The prognostic value of retinal vessel analysis in primary open-angle glaucoma

To analyse a prognostic value of initial retinal vessel flicker response for the 3-year development of functional (visual field) and morphological (nerve fibre layer thickness) damage progression in primary open-angle glaucoma patients.

Initially, 70 patients were recruited, and flicker response was measured by standardized procedure with the retinal vessel analyser (RVA). Ocular coherence tomography of retinal nerve fibre layer (OCT RNFL) and a visual field testing were performed at beginning and every 6 months for 3 years; 56 patients completed the study.

No correlation was found between the progression of visual field (VF) mean defect and retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) thinning over 3 years on one and the maximal flicker reaction in arteries and veins on the other side (all p > 0.1). However, the calculated difference of examined parameters in the superior versus inferior retinal halves correlated significantly between the RNFL thinning and the initial maximal flicker response for arteries (p = 0.01) and veins (p = 0.003).

This longitudinal study did not find a general correlation between initial retinal vessel response to flicker light and the glaucoma damage progression measured by OCT and VF, hence limiting the relevance of the RVA device as a predictor of future glaucomatous damage.