Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 13, 2026
Using Retinal Imaging to Study Dementia
Published on: November 6, 2017
Comprehensive Three-Dimensional Analysis of the Neuroretinal Rim in Glaucoma Using High-Density Spectral-Domain
Edem Tsikata1, Ramon Lee2, Eric Shieh2
1Department of Ophthalmology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston, Massachusetts, United States 2Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Purpose:
To describe spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) methods for quantifying neuroretinal rim tissue in glaucoma and to compare these methods to the traditional retinal nerve fiber layer thickness diagnostic parameter.
Methods:
Neuroretinal rim parameters derived from three-dimensional (3D) volume scans were compared with the two-dimensional (2D) Spectralis retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness scans for diagnostic capability. This study analyzed one eye per patient of 104 glaucoma patients and 58 healthy subjects. The shortest distances between the cup surface and the OCT-based disc margin were automatically calculated to determine the thickness and area of the minimum distance band (MDB) neuroretinal rim parameter. Traditional 150-μm reference surface-based rim parameters (volume, area, and thickness) were also calculated. The diagnostic capabilities of these five parameters were compared with RNFL thickness using the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curves.
Results:
The MDB thickness had significantly higher diagnostic capability than the RNFL thickness in the nasal (0.913 vs. 0.818, P = 0.004) and temporal (0.922 vs. 0.858, P = 0.026) quadrants and the inferonasal (0.950 vs. 0.897, P = 0.011) and superonasal (0.933 vs. 0.868, P = 0.012) sectors. The MDB area and the three neuroretinal rim parameters based on the 150-μm reference surface had diagnostic capabilities similar to RNFL thickness.
Conclusions:
The 3D MDB thickness had a high diagnostic capability for glaucoma and may be of significant clinical utility. It had higher diagnostic capability than the RNFL thickness in the nasal and temporal quadrants and the inferonasal and superonasal sectors.
