Optical coherence tomography angiography in juvenile open angle glaucoma: correlation between structure and perfusion

Juvenile open angle glaucoma (JOAG) is a type of glaucoma that occurs in patients younger than 40 years. Only a few studies have assessed vascular perfusion in JOAG and correlated it with structural damage. The aim of this study is to investigate vascular perfusion in JOAG by optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) and correlate it with structural damage, represented by retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thinning.

This is a cross-sectional observational study of 25 eyes of patients with JOAG. All patients underwent full ocular examination and scanning by OCTA to measure parameters such as RNFL thickness, peripapillary and disk vascular density.

Average superior and inferior RNFL thicknesses were 69.4 (± 22.1) and 70.4 (± 25.6) μm, whereas peripapillary and disk vascular densities were 38.2(± 10), and 39.1(± 12) % and superior and inferior vascular densities were 38.1(± 10.5) and 38.2(± 9.7) %. A strong positive correlation was found between the superior and inferior RNFL thickness and the vascular density of the peripapillary region, the disk and the superior and inferior vascular densities (p < 0.001 for all).

OCTA parameters are strongly correlated with structural damage in JOAG patients. OCTA can serve as a helpful tool in the diagnosis and assessment of progression in JOAG and be utilized as a prognostic indicator, thus filling the defects and gaps present in other methods of assessment.