Investigation of progression pattern and associated risk factors in glaucoma patients with initial paracentral...

Central visual field (VF) progression could directly threaten patientss visual function compared to glaucomatous damage. This study was designed to investigate visual field (VF) progression pattern and associated risk factors including optical coherence topography angiographic (OCT-A) findings in glaucoma patients with initial paracentral scotoma. This prospective, observational study included 122 eyes presenting as initial paracentral scotomas with serial 24-2 and 10-2 VF tests at the glaucoma clinic of Seoul St Mary's Hospital between November 2017 and August 2020. The participants underwent at least 5 serial VF exams and OCT-A at baseline. Numerical values of the initial and final 10-2 VF tests were averaged for each VF test point using the total deviation map. Innermost 10-2 VF progression was defined as three or more new contiguous points at the central 12 points on 10-2 VF. Other clinical characteristics were collected including history of disc hemorrhage and vessel density (VD) was measured from OCT-A images. Linear regression analysis was performed to obtain the change of mean deviation and a cut-off for progression was defined for both 24-2 and 10-2 VFs. The average total deviation maps of the initial 10-2 VF tests shows initial paracentral scotoma located in the superior region in an arcuate pattern that was deep in the 4°-6° region above fixation. This arcuate pattern was more broadly located in the 4°-10° region in the primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) group, while it was closer to fixation in 0°-4° region in the normal-tension glaucoma (NTG) group. The final average map shows deepening of scotomas in the 4°-10° region in POAG, which deepened closer to the region of fixation in NTG. The diagnosis of NTG (β 1.892; 95% CI 1.225-2.516; P = 0.035) and lower choroidal VD in the peripapillary atrophy (PPA) region (β 0.985; 95% CI 0.975 to 0.995; P = 0.022) were significantly related to innermost 10-2 VF progression. Initial paracentral scotomas in NTG tended to progress closer to the region of fixation, which should be monitored closely. Important progression risk factors related to paracentral scotoma near the fixation were the diagnosis of NTG and reduced choroidal VD in the β-zone PPA region using OCT-A. We should consider vascular risk factors in NTG patients presenting with initial paracentral scotoma to avoid vision threatening progression of glaucoma.