Regional Comparisons of Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Vessel Density in Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma

To compare the diagnostic abilities of the vessel densities in optic nerve head (ONH), peripapillary, and macular regions measured using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) in eyes with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), and to evaluate the effect of glaucoma severity (based on the mean deviation, MD), optic disc size, and pretreatment intraocular pressure (IOP).

Cross-sectional study.

Seventy-eight eyes of 53 control subjects and 64 eyes of 39 POAG patients underwent OCTA imaging. Area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves (AUC) and sensitivities at fixed specificities of vessel densities in ONH, peripapillary, and macular regions were analyzed. ROC regression was used to evaluate the effect of covariates on the diagnostic abilities.

The AUCs of ONH vessel densities ranged between 0.59 (superonasal sector) and 0.73 (average inside disc), peripapillary between 0.70 (nasal, superonasal and temporal) and 0.89 (inferotemporal), and macular between 0.56 (nasal) and 0.64 (temporal). AUC of the average peripapillary vessel density was significantly better than the average inside disc (P = .05) and macular (P = .005) measurement. MD showed a negative association with the AUCs of the vessel densities of all regions. Pretreatment IOP (coefficient: 0.09) showed a significant (P < .05) effect on the AUC of ONH vessel density.

Diagnostic ability of the vessel density parameters of OCTA was only moderate. Macular and inside disc densities had significantly lower diagnostic abilities in POAG than the peripapillary density. Diagnostic abilities of vessel densities increased with increasing severity of glaucoma and that of ONH vessel density with higher pretreatment IOPs.