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Updated: Aug 22, 2025

Assessing Early Stage Open-Angle Glaucoma in Patients by Isolated-Check Visual Evoked Potential
Published on: May 25, 2020
Optic nerve cavitations in glaucoma suspect and glaucoma patients
Bennett Y Hong1, Brad Fortune1, Robert M Kinast1
1Legacy Devers Eye Institute, 1040 N.W. 22nd Ave, Good Samaritan Building 2, Portland, OR, 97210, USA.
Purpose:
Glaucoma is associated with structural changes of the optic nerve head such as deformation, lamina cribosa defects, prelaminar schisis, and peripapillary retinal schisis. We describe optic nerve cavitations that were detected by routine spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT).
Observations:
OCT imaging showed cavitations in 5 eyes of 4 patients with an initial diagnosis of glaucoma or glaucoma suspect. The cavitations were seen as hyporeflective spaces that are sharply delineated from surrounding tissue. They were centered inferonasally, anterior to the lamina cribosa, and at least partially within the Bruch's membrane opening (BMO). They extended from 3 to 6 clock hours.
Conclusion:
AND IMPORTANCE: We describe a new OCT finding in patients with a diagnosis of glaucoma and glaucoma suspect. While previous reports describe cavitations in the choroid in patients with pathological myopia, our patients had minimal refractive error and the cavitations were located within the optic nerve. We will examine these patients over time to determine the impact of this finding on longitudinal changes in structure and function.
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